


World

by sssinder (orphan_account)



Category: Doom 3, Final Fantasy XI, VG Cats
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-09-25
Updated: 2004-10-02
Packaged: 2019-05-10 02:57:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14728649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/sssinder
Summary: DISCLAIMER: VG Cats is the property of Scott "The Mangler" Ramsoomair, whose characters are used here without permission, for entertainment purposes only. This story was not written for profit, and it was not written to libel Scott Ramsoomair.Visit Scott, Leo, and Aeris at http://www.vgcats.comThis story is intended for mature audiences.





	1. World 1-1, Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DISCLAIMER: VG Cats is the property of Scott "The Mangler" Ramsoomair, whose characters are used here without permission, for entertainment purposes only. This story was not written for profit, and it was not written to libel Scott Ramsoomair.
> 
> Visit Scott, Leo, and Aeris at http://www.vgcats.com
> 
> This story is intended for mature audiences.

Leo Leonardo was afraid.  
  
It was a natural feeling to have, considering he was walking through Hell, but that knowledge did little to slow the frenzied beating of his heart. His emerald eyes were wide with anxious fear, every breath a trembling gasp that filled his lungs with the stench of brimstone; he'd been forced to discard his helmet hours ago, for he had been unable to figure out how to lift the protective visor. The transparent shield kept fogging up with his breathing, leaving him unable to see anything. In those intervening hours, he had made painfully slow progress; it seemed that with every step, every medikit or clip of ammunition he picked up, a demon was ready to lunge out of the darkness and sink its talons into his gray-furred hide.  
  
To Leo, every step he took sounded like thunder from on high, the clomping of his boots cold and solid upon the black stone of the inferno. His ammo reserves were running low; he'd wasted countless rounds merely firing upon shadows, at imagined monsters that had more substance in his mind than in reality. His space marine armor and even the shotgun he held in his paws felt strangely heavy, a sensation he chalked up to battle fatigue. The screams over the radio had stopped long ago, and Leo wished he could stop too, just for a few minutes, to rest. Every muscle in his body ached, shrieking for a reprieve, but Leo couldn't give in to their demands.  
  
_Can't stop now,_  he thought.  _Not when I'm so near the end. This is the last sector, it has to be. I've already been everywhere else._  
  
Hell had a strangely aesthetic quality to it; the place was a spot-on match for every painting Leo had ever seen, every description he'd read in Dante and  _Faustus_. The corridor he moved down now was primarily black stone, but the bricks were unevenly spaced, granting a glimpse of flickering flame behind them. The walls were lined in some places with rusty iron bars, makeshift cages that were embedded in the stone itself, sometimes empty, sometimes filled with chunks of gore and flesh that still writhed even as Leo looked upon them. The air was foul, filled with a noxious odor that Leo could actually taste; he'd tried to filter it out by clasping a paw over his face, but to no avail. For a moment, he wished he still had his helmet.  
  
_Jesus, it smells worse than Dad's cigars._  Leo's father was an ardent smoker, often making use of thick, black cigars that gave off a scent that always turned Leo's stomach; on occasion, he preferred a pipe, filling the house with smoke so thick and dark that Leo was forced to retreat outside just for the sake of breathing. The odor brought back unexpected memories of Earth, of happier days with his family, and with Her... all of which seemed very remote now, infinitely far away from this fiery tomb hidden kilometers beneath the surface of Mars.  
  
Before Leo could have the leisure of growing homesick, his thoughts were interrupted by the rumble of collapsing bricks. He spun to the right, bringing the shotgun to bear, nearly emptying a shell upon the crumbling stone and mortar. It wasn't the first time one of the walls had opened of its own volition, but Leo was certain he'd never get used to it. Any hesitation, any pause in his reaction, could very well get him killed.  
  
Leo cautiously peered into the new chamber. No demons in his immediate field of vision... no doors, for that matter. Just the wide, open, dimly-lit room, with the same walls of dark rock, and a sizable hole in the ground in the center of the place. It made sense; his journey through Hell had been a fairly linear one, with few alternate paths for him to take. If the gaping hole was the only way for him to go, then so be it. He gave the shotgun a pump, and strode into the exposed cavern.  
  
He hadn't taken his third step before he fell to his knees, gasping for air. The stench from before had struck him like a physical blow, nearly knocking him over, overpowering as it was. Leo's eyes filled with tears, his chest hacking and coughing in a futile attempt to rid his lungs of the rotten fumes. He tilted his head back toward the ceiling, lifting a paw to grasp at his throat.  
  
That's when he saw it.  
  
The thing stood upon a body that must have weighed hundreds of tons. It was well over two times his height, closer to three, and was more machine than flesh; the right leg from the knee down was crafted of a silver metal. The body was massive, chiseled of pure muscle, the skin the color of leather; the torso was attached to the waist by a dense, thick network of red wires and shifting gears. The left arm vanished at the elbow, melting into the metallic gleam of a grafted rocket launcher. The monster's horns were longer than Leo's own arms, twisting and curling against the side of its face. When it bent over to look down upon him--upside-down, for he was kneeling beneath the monstrosity's tree-trunk legs--he got a clear view of the single shimmering eye, a swirling mass of light like one might see through a kaleidoscope. Its mouth opened in a deafening roar, one that made the very boundaries of Hell tremble in reverence.  
  
It was into this mouth that Leo jammed the barrel of the shotgun, and pulled the trigger.  
  
The cyber-demon's head snapped back, granting Leo the chance he needed to bolt out from underneath it. He tossed the shotgun to the ground like so much garbage; the thing had probably  _eaten_  the buckshot he had sent down its throat. The gun would have been no more effective against it than an air rifle. Sprinting along the ebon terrain, Leo reached into his backpack and pulled out his secret weapon.  
  
According to the training video, the BFG 9000 was the "pinnacle" of the UAC's weapons development program. Leo had only used it once, against a pair of those creatures the UAC's lab boys had code-named "Hell Knights". Two blasts from the BFG--one for each of the demons--had been sufficient to reduce them both to cinders. He was confident it would do the same to the goliath bearing down upon him now.  
  
Leo turned about and continued to backpedal, leveling the surprisingly light energy weapon at the demon. It was pursuing him with unexpected speed for something of its size, taking long, quick strides in his direction. Leo sneered at the titan, clutching at the trigger within the glove-like weapon. "Go to Hell!" he shouted. He didn't realize the irony of the statement until it had already passed his lips.  
  
The BFG trembled upon Leo's arm, a high-pitched whine that made his pointed ears splay back escaping the gizmo. The charge indicator upon the gun began to blink, reading 1... 2... when it reached 4, Leo released the trigger. A sphere of bright green light bigger than his head shot from the front of the machine, slamming flush into the demon's chest, concealing it within a haze of emerald smoke.  
  
Leo made the mistake of ceasing his sprint, a smirk upon his furred lips. If he had kept on running, the rocket probably would have missed him.  
  
The missile caught Leo low upon his torso, impacting against his abdomen. In that respect, he was lucky; his armor absorbed the brunt of the blast, ripping the heavy-duty kevlar to shreds while leaving him relatively unharmed. The shock of the blow sent him rolling backward, head-over-tail, but at least he was alive; a few inches higher, and the rocket would have seared his face off.  
  
Leo straightened his posture, rising into a kneel and gasping for air. "Fuck!" he growled, clasping his free paw against the singed fur of his stomach. He gazed wide-eyed at the dissipating cloud of smoke with an expression of disbelief; the demon was still standing. Not only that, but it hadn't even been fazed by the energy burst--it continued to clomp toward him, every smash of its hooves causing the ground beneath him to tremble.  
  
He staggered to his feet, breaking into another run, although he couldn't keep the same pace as before. The rocket had knocked the wind out of him, made it difficult to breathe, his hurried steps threatening to trip over one another. In addition, Leo had limited space to maneuver; a fairly large "donut" of rock surrounding the hole in the floor was stable and safe to walk upon, but between the outer edges of the donut and the walls of the chamber was a yawning abyss like the moat around a castle, a dark pit that Leo couldn't see the bottom of. He had to run in circles around the pit in the room's center, trying to keep ahead of the demon's lumbering tread.  
  
Leo had tried to fire the BFG a second time, but the weapon had not responded; he swore under his breath, realizing that the last shot had drained the power cell. He opened a panel on the gadget's side, letting the clear, cube-shaped container clatter uselessly to the ground before replacing it with a fresh, green-glowing one from his backpack. When he turned to face the demon again, it was directly across the chasm in the center of the room, giving both Leo and the monster a clear shot. Before the beast could aim the box on its arm, Leo fired off another full charge from the BFG. This time, the verdant globe of energy caught the monster clean in the face, engulfing its head in a flash of bright light.  
  
Leo stopped running. He hadn't forgotten the lesson from before, but he just couldn't keep it up; his chest and belly were burned, his lungs screamed with every painful gasp of filthy air, and his knees threatened to buckle. The thing  _had_  to be dead, he'd hit it with the equivalent of eight individual rounds from the BFG, each one carrying a charge powerful enough to incinerate anything within fifteen meters. Lucifer himself couldn't have survived that kind of punishment.  
  
And yet, the hellspawn had somehow managed.  
  
"No fucking way," Leo whispered respectfully. The green vapors lifted to reveal the cyborg standing as tall as ever. Leo hadn't even managed to knock it down, let alone kill it. As before, the demon seemed unharmed by Leo's attack; anything else living would have melted into a greasy smear on the spot. The creature stood stock-still, and for a moment, Leo thought that perhaps he had managed to stun it with the last shot. Before he had time to reach into his backpack for a fresh power cell, however, the demon's head snapped to attention, its single eye locking upon Leo. It bellowed a defiant roar in his direction, and lifted the gleam of its rocket launcher.  
  
_Son of a bitch wasn't stunned at all,_  Leo thought.  _It was waiting for the smoke to clear so it could draw a bead on me._  
  
Again, Leo was lucky. When the demon fired another rocket in his direction, he was able to stagger backward, partially out of range. Instead of striking him in the chest, the missile exploded at his feet, knocking him back as forcefully as if the monster had simply slugged him in the stomach.  
  
Unfortunately, the impact of the rocket was enough to catapult Leo through the air, beyond the safety of the donut of rock, and over the edge of the black pit beneath. Leo screamed as he plummeted into the abyss, vainly flailing all of his limbs, until his mind knew nothing but oblivion.  
  
***  
  
"FUCK YOU, YOU CHEAP BASTARD!" Leo screamed.  
  
The monitor of his computer seemed indifferent to the abuse; the screen faded to a red background with the metallic  _Doom 3_  logo hovering at the top. The options "restart", "load", and "quit" appeared in fiery letters. Behind him, Leo could hear a soft, purring chuckle. "What's the matter, 'marine'? Not going to cry, are you?"  
  
Leo looked over his shoulder with a scowl. Aeris sat upon the edge of his bed, twin fangs protruding over her lower lip as she grinned. The length of her tail, as pink as the rest of her, swished to and fro behind her, making a soft sound as it struck upon the fabric of Leo's sheets.  
  
"You shut up," Leo growled, narrowing his eyes at his smirking counterpart. "The son of a bitch is unbeatable. You saw me, I hit him dead-on with two full BFG charges. Nothing in the  _game_  could live through that."  
  
"Yeah yeah, sure sure. They wouldn't make the game unbeatable, dork," Aeris purred, rising from where she sat. The female feline stretched her arms above her head, opening her maw wide and curling her fingers into her furred palms. She smiled down upon Leo with eyes of azure, motioning to his bed with a thumb. "Take five, soldier. My turn."  
  
Leo grumbled irritably, but offered no resistance. He stood from the spot he had occupied for the last hour, wincing while he rubbed his sore backside with a paw. He yawned in turn, cupping a paw to his mouth to stifle the sound, before staggering over to lie upon his welcoming bedsheets. The  _Doom-a-thon_  had progressed in this fashion for almost six hours, level by level; when one cat would die, the other would take a crack at the game. However, the latest effort had left Leo exhausted; his heart was still pounding from the encounter with the cyber-demon, his breathing quicker than he would prefer it to be. After the monster made short work of Aeris, he didn't think he'd go for another round in the padded computer chair.  
  
"Hey. Before you get comfortable, could you turn on the light or something? No wonder you get fragged so often, playing with it so damn dark in here."  
  
Leo offered another grumble, but it did nothing to wipe the smirk from Aeris's lips. He strode across the floor, reaching out to flick at the toggle of the wall-mounted light. The fluorescent bulb flickered and buzzed in protest for a few moments--typical of university dorm lighting--before emitting letting out a soft hum, and emitting a bright white glow.  
  
"Do you think you could get the fan too?"  
  
Leo growled. "What am I, your butler?" He was in the process of reaching for the knob of the black fan that stood just beneath the light when he gave a start; the fan was already on, turned to its highest setting. Leo himself had switched it on earlier in the evening to keep the computer cool. As the hours passed, he had tuned out the sound as background noise while focusing upon the game. "It's already going. Are you warm or something?"  
  
"A little. Aren't you?"  
  
He shrugged his shoulders. "Not really." It  _was_  late in August, and the evenings were quite warm at this time of the year, but he figured it was mostly a female thing; when he was home, his mother would complain about the temperature year-round, how it was always too hot, or too cold. Leo himself never noticed much of a difference. He returned to the bed with a sigh, clasping his paws together behind his head. It felt good to let his eyes look at something other than his monitor; they roamed across his room, taking in the sight of his accomodations.  
  
There wasn't anything inherently  _wrong_  with the University of Toronto's dorms. They were small, with plain white walls, poorly insulated, sparsely decorated, and fit with a thin layer of carpet that was an ugly maroon color... pretty average, as far as college housing went. Of course, Leo had managed to spruce things up a little; a compact microwave oven joined the tall fan under the wall light, sitting atop an aged dresser. A small television set that picked up 29 channels (there had been 70 the year before, but the school switched to the cheapest possible cable plan in an effort to save money) sat upon one of the narrow walk-in closets. There were two closets in the room... two of all the major pieces of furniture, in fact, since it had been designed to accommodate two people. But Leo didn't have a roommate, and not due to deserving any special treatment from the school; the past candidates for the position had all complained that he stayed up into the late hours of the morning playing video games. The university was reluctant to discipline him, since he hadn't technically violated any rules, so the administration opted to simply let him have the room to himself. A fairly large  _Alien Vs. Predator_  poster was held to one wall by masking tape--the university didn't allow any other kind of adhesive, claiming they all left residue on the walls that the tenants could be charged with removing. There was even a black refrigerator, albeit a small one, sitting just behind the wheeled office chair in which Aeris now sat. However, despite its furnishings, the room was far from tidy; empty pizza boxes were stacked in one corner, and discarded soda cans littered the area around the bed, relics from Leo's late-night gaming binges.  
  
_Aeris._  Leo smiled at the sight of her. She too had been a regular fixture in his room, although she lived in one of the other dorms. UofT had several divisions of campus housing, but the "best" rooms were in the Towers; South for the men, North for the women. Towers rooms were generally reserved for upper-classmen, but Leo had been lucky enough to be placed in one via lottery. Aeris's placement in the North Tower was for more dignified reasons; she was a scholarship student, and received a measure of preferential treatment from the higher-ups. She visited him often, sometimes to study with him, sometimes to fight with him, mostly just to waste time with him. His parents had purchased him a new computer when he started college, and Aeris shamelessly enjoyed exploiting the bleeding edge technology to play her favorite games.  
  
Leo's emerald eyes ran over her familiar features. She was a soft, warm pink from the edges of her ears to the tip of her tail, save for the black t-shirt and denim shorts she wore. The tops of white socks were visible at her ankles, running into well-worn black sneakers. Her hair had no particular style or braid to it, flowing freely down her shoulders, the triangular tips of her ears poking out from within the mass of pink. Her eyes were dark blue, like the sky on a clear day. Leo purred; she was an attractive young woman, despite the fire of her temper, and her low opinion of him.  
  
Leo frowned; he didn't know why Aeris thought so poorly of him. They had grown up together, gone to school together, spent virtually their entire lives together... and still, she treated him like he was some mixed-breed alley cat. He was a dork, sure, and he could freely admit to that; he barely managed to pass his classes given all the time he spent watching television and playing games, but sometimes he thought that Aeris fared only marginally better, despite her superior grades. Her full name was Aeris Bradford Cole, so whenever she broke the high score in an arcade game, she could enter her initials as "A.B.C." It always amused her to no end, but Leo found it irritating, for the most part.  
  
His fingers absently stroked over the blue bell about his neck, coaxing a soft ring from within the bauble. It had been a gift from her, several years ago, but he wasn't sure if she still remembered. It wasn't the first time he'd found himself thinking about her like this; he'd noticed how pretty she was long ago, when he was still a teenager driven by raging hormones. The hormones were still raging, that was true, but even back then, he'd seldom thought of her in those terms. Aeris was his best friend--she always had been--and to think of her as a potential lover always made Leo feel guilty, and in all honesty, rather nervous. It's not that he didn't like her--he  _did_ \--and it's not that there weren't other attractive women on campus--there  _were_ \--but it was only his second year in college, and he hadn't grown close to very many people. The past year with Aeris had been a pleasant one; away from home and his parents, he found he enjoyed her company more than he had before. But even so, he wasn't sure if he could think of his childhood friend as something... well...  _more_  than just a friend.  
  
He sighed, gently rubbing a paw across his face.  _Aeris is right, Leo. When you can think of your life in terms of a plot point from Final Fantasy VII, then you really **are**  a dork._  
  
He shook the uncomfortable thoughts from his head, and looked past Aeris's shoulder to the game that played out upon the screen. Though he would not have admitted it to her, he would very much have liked to know what she was thinking about.  
  
***  
  
_Leo is such a dork,_  Aeris thought.  
  
She just didn't understand it. For someone who spent as much time playing video games as Leo did, she thought he would have paid more attention to their actual  _content_. It was stated in  _Doom 3_  no less than half a dozen times that the Soul Cube was the ultimate weapon against the invading demon horde, and yet, it had never occured to Leo that it  _just might_  be the weapon of choice against the end boss. Whereas the colossal demon had killed Leo fairly quickly, Aeris was able to make sport of it, skirting out of range of its rockets, killing the smaller monsters that Leo hadn't lived long enough to see spawn, and hurling the energized Soul Cube against the main demon to siphon its life force into her own.  
  
Thinking about Leo's straightfoward tactics brought a smile to her lips. His style of playing any game was very direct--she wasn't sure he even knew how to  _strafe_ \--and in most cases, that was enough... but for games that required actual strategy, or elements of stealth, he was hopelessly lost. His logic was admirable: "Why," he had once said to her, matter-of-factly, "should I bother with with disabling the engine on an enemy tank... when it would be so much more entertaining and infinitely more satisfying just to blow it up, instead?" The same theory came into play against the cyber-demon; Leo was convinced that if he threw enough ammunition at it, it would eventually succumb to his immense firepower. In a way, Aeris found it endearing--at least she knew she could count on Leo when it came to being consistent.  
  
She purred under her breath. The game looked  _fantastic_  on Leo's computer. The state-of-the-art hardware allowed for a flawless framerate and high-quality graphics; the aging machine she owned would have had to settle for playing at low resolution, at best. Sometimes--albeit not often--she envied Leo. His parents loved him a great deal--they must have, otherwise they wouldn't be paying all of his tution and housing fees--and no matter how mediocre his grades were, they never seemed displeased with him. It made her regret her own situation; her own parents were controlling, and never seemed to see things on her terms. She was lucky to have studied so hard in high school, since her parents probably wouldn't shell out the cash to pay for the university if her scholarships didn't cover everything. When she told them she was going into graphic design, they nearly went through the roof--gave her the whole "starving artist" lecture, and told her how she'd never be able to make a living just by drawing and painting. She  _was_  satisfied, however, by the looks on their faces when she asked them if they'd rather she went into computers like "that Leonardo kid".  
  
Aeris felt a pang of guilt. That wasn't really being fair to Leo. Her parents thought he was an utter loser, and that any career path he'd choose simply  _had_  to be a waste of time. He loved to play video games... and, to be perfectly honest, that was the only thing he really loved to do that had the slighest chance of making him any money. He could have looked for a testing position somewhere, but those positions were usually temporary, and wouldn't be able to afford him any job security. When he told her he'd decided to go into programming--"To help create the kinds of games I love to play", as he'd bragged to her--she had her doubts, but he'd held his own in his classes so far. If he'd chosen a different major, something with a lighter workload than Computer Science, his grades just might have been better than they were.  
  
A tinkling chime made her ears perk. She glanced back at Leo to see him fiddling with the bell around his neck, gazing at it with a look of fascination, as though it were some precious treasure. She had given it to him when they were both sixteen, as a farewell present, when she thought her family would be moving to Vancouver. That hadn't happened, of course, but Leo still kept the bell. It was odd... she could remember seeing him wearing it before, but she'd never really noticed it until now. Seeing Leo touch the little trinket made her smile.  
  
She allowed her eyes to briefly run over the rest of his body. Leo wasn't bad-looking--he was actually quite handsome, for a tomcat--with fur the color of ashes. There was usually a smile upon his furred lips, which made the pensive expression it now held seem unusual. His eyes, half-lidded, were a rich green that reminded her of the needles of the pine trees on campus. He often dressed in baggy clothing that hung loose upon his limbs, but due to the season, he wore a simple white t-shirt and a ragged-looking pair of blue jean shorts. They left his arms and legs exposed, lean muscle visible beneath his clouded pelt; the gray of his limbs dissolved into mitten-like white fur upon his hands and feet. He was in surprisingly good shape for someone who spent so much time in front of a computer or television set, probably due to the amount of walking he had to do every day just to get to class.  
  
Looking at him, Aeris felt rather flushed, and realized anew how uncomfortably stuffy his room felt. She knew the fan was on, and could feel the breeze it created, but she certainly didn't feel any cooler. At first, she'd thought Leo wasn't bothered by the heat because he was wearing such light clothing, but she wasn't garbed much differently. She squirmed in her chair, returning her attention to the game, hoping it would take her mind off the temperature.  
  
Aeris couldn't help but smirk; when she threw the Soul Cube again, it tore through the cyber-demon's left leg, beginning the game's ending cutscene. She leaned back in the seat with a look of triumph, turning about to face Leo with her arms folded across her chest. "Game over, marine," she gleefully purred, sticking her tongue out at him. "I win."  
  
***  
  
Leo growled in irritation. His skill at video games was one of the few real skills he had, and one he took great pride in. To be humbled in the gaming arena stung, especially when Aeris was involved; he had lasted all of sixty seconds against the demon, while she had annihilated it in less than five minutes. "You always win," he complained, the tip of his tail flicking where it lie upon his bed. It wasn't the defeat itself that bothered him so much as the fact that Aeris--being, well,  _Aeris_ \--would never stop rubbing it in.  
  
Indeed, she could barely restrain her gloating; she giggled and purred with evident satisfaction, leaning back in the seat to afford Leo a clear view of the monitor. "What's the matter, Leo?" she murmured in a condescending tone. "Don't you want to see the end of the game?"  
  
"Ahh, shuddap," he retorted, rolling onto his side with his back to the pink cat. "I'll see it when I beat it for myself."  
  
Aeris relished the small victory; she always seemed to enjoy one-upping him. "Aww, did I hurt the poor kitty's feelings?" she teased.  
  
Leo turned his head, looking upon her out of the corner of one eye. "Hmph," he snorted. "I'll have you know that my list of gaming conquests is quite extensive, and not to be tarnished simply because you made it to the end of a game before I did."  
  
"Is that a fact?" Aeris mused. She leaned forward where she sat, eyes narrowed. "And what, o mighty conqueror, have you accomplished in your acclaimed career, hmm?"  
  
The gray cat shifted his position, rolling about to face Aeris once more, propping his chin up upon an open palm. "You're looking at the man who unlocked the secret golden kart in  _Mario Kart: Double Dash_. The man who got the high score on the  _Star Trek_  pinball machine at the downtown arcade. The man who  _beat Jaws_  for the NES!"  
  
Aeris rolled her eyes. "Oh, you must be  _sooo_  proud." She grinned, rolling the wheeled chair in his direction, speaking in a low tone. "You know what I've done, Leo?"  
  
Leo arched an eyebrow at her. "What?"  
  
She looked left, then right, as if to ensure that no one else in the empty room was listening. Then she leaned forward and whispered, her breath warm upon Leo's face.  _"I've beaten Doom 3."_  
  
She might as well have punched him in the stomach; Leo's ears splayed back atop his head, his jaw slacking, though he did not speak. He merely growled at her and rolled back over, aggressively working himself into the fabric of his bedsheets. Aeris chuckled, reaching out to gently scratch the disgruntled cat between the ears, and rose to her feet with a yawn. She looked out the window of his room, but nothing was visible; night had fallen, and the world outside had gone dark. Her eyes widened, and fell upon the digital clock on the shelf above Leo's computer: 12:43. "Fuck!" she hissed.  
  
Leo glanced at her. "What now?"  
  
"It's after midnight," she whined. She had completely lost track of time while playing the game. "You know the rules, Leo. The Towers lock up after midnight. If I want to get back to my room, I'll have to buzz the security guard... and you know that guy really creeps me out."  
  
Leo grimaced. The university's night watchman was an old basset hound who looked like McGruff the Crime Dog, if he had fallen on hard times; he didn't walk so much as shamble, spoke in a mumbling voice that was difficult to comprehend, and wheezed with every breath. Leo didn't have anything against him, but Aeris was right--you just got a weird kind of vibe from the guy, as if he might suddenly bite your head off, or--worse--drop dead right in front of you. Nevertheless, if you wanted access to either of the towers after 12:00 at night, he was the only one who could unlock the doors to the lobby for you. Leo pondered the situation for a moment, and shrugged his shoulders. "Why don't you just stay here for tonight?"  
  
Leo could have sworn Aeris began to pale; the pink hue almost seemed to drain from her furred cheeks. "W-what?" she stammered.  
  
Leo shrugged again. "You know the rules as well as I do. It's Friday night. Visitors of the opposite sex can stay in a tenant's room from 10 a.m. Friday to midnight Sunday." He tilted his head, looking at her with a curious expression. "Why do you look so spooked? We've had sleepovers before."  
  
Aeris's color changed again; rather than turn pale, she began to blush, the hue of her cheeks darkening to a light crimson. "Not since we were kittens, Leo. Sleeping together when we were kids is one thing, but it carries different connotations now that we're adults."  
  
Leo looked amused; he eased himself up into a recline, bracing his back against the headboard of his bed, clasping his paws together upon his belly. "Aeris Cole," he chided, "It's me you're talking to. It's  _Leo_. You don't honestly think I'd try anything, do you?"  
  
Aeris gave a snort. "I know exactly who I'm talking to, that's why I wouldn't put it past you." She regretted the words as soon as they passed her lips; Leo looked crestfallen, like a puppy that had been scolded. She continued in a softer tone. "But you're right, Leo... you may be a geek, but you're not a lecher. That's more than I can say for some guys I know. Thank you." She shifted upon her paws, trying to avoid looking directly at him, turning her eyes to the whirring fan, and the darkened window. "Where do you want me to sleep?"  
  
Leo swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat upright. "You can use my bed. I'll use the spare." He gestured to the bed on the other side of the room; it was only a bed in the academic sense, a bare mattress upon a metal frame. The university made students provide their own sheets and pillows, and since Leo lacked a roommate, the other bed had gone unfurnished.  
  
Aeris frowned. "But it's your bed. I don't want to impose."  
  
Leo chuckled. "Yeah, it's  _my_  bed, just like you're  _my_  guest. I wouldn't be much of a friend if I stuck you with the crappy bed. Just let me get my comforter, I'll be all right." Leo's bed was covered by a thick, downy, green comforter in addition to the standard sheets; he made use of it in the winter months. During the early months of school, when the weather was still hot, it served no purpose. In fact, more often than not, he simply slept on top of his sheets rather than beneath them, having no need for the extra warmth. He grasped the edge of the comforter in his paws, bundled the cushy fabric in his arms, and spread it out along the surface of the spare bed. He sprawled upon the mattress in what looked like the least dignified manner possible, limbs askew, half clinging to the bed, half dangling off its edge--a true cat.  
  
Aeris smiled, the flush of her skin grown more pronounced. "Thanks, Leo," she repeated. "Are you going to bed now? I don't mind if you stay up, I don't have any weekend classes I need to rest up for."  
  
Leo shook his head. "No thanks," he murmured. "I think both you and the demons have kicked my ass enough for one night." He lifted his head to smirk at her. "You?"  
  
Aeris shook her head in turn. "Nuh-uh. I think I might be coming down with something, I don't wanna be up any later than I already am."  
  
Leo nodded. "Have it your way. Just shut down the system before you go to sleep."  
  
Aeris sat back down in the swiveling chair and closed out of the game. Leo's desktop wallpaper was a giant-sized advertisement for the new  _Mega Man X: Command Mission_  game; it was one of several titles he'd been looking forward to purchasing--although Aeris could never figure out how he could afford to, for she didn't think his parents would give him a  _video game_  allowance--but it wouldn't be out in stores for another month. She pressed the small circular button on the front of the computer tower and watched as the system shut itself off with a  _beep_.  
  
She looked to where Leo lie upon the second-rate bed. He faced the wall, resting his head upon one forearm, for he had no pillow of his own. The length of his tail dangled over the edge of the mattress, swaying to and fro like the pendulum of a clock. Aeris purred, watching the tick-tock of his tail, and murmured, "Do you always sleep in your clothes, Leo?"  
  
He did not turn to face her. His voice was half-muffled by the comforter when he spoke. "Not usually. Just when I'm up too late and don't feel like changing out." She saw his ears perk against his arm. "Why?"  
  
She continued to purr, whispering in a tone that carried a hint of jest, along with something else Leo could not readily identify. "Sooo... why don't you change out of them tonight?"  
  
That was enough to garner a surprised look from the gray cat; his verdant eyes met with her own, body half-twisting upon the mattress to face her. "I don't usually sleep in  _anything_ , Aeris. You  _do_  know that, right?"  
  
The pink cat shrugged. "It's nothing I haven't seen before, Leo." She smirked rather devilishly, baring her gleaming fangs to the fluorescent light. "Whassamatter? Is the kitty shy?" She already knew that Leo was anything  _but_  shy. At last year's big campus Halloween party, they had gone together; she had dressed as a ninja--because ninjas are cool--while Leo had dressed in a white sheet with two eye-holes in it. At the time, she had attributed his poor costume simply to his being an idiot, but in the middle of the party, he took the sheet off to reveal that it was the  _only_  thing he was wearing, and streaked out of the residence hall in front of God and everyone: his classmates, his professors, even the caterers. Aeris had considered hanging herself with her ninja scarf to escape the embarrassment.  
  
But she, along with everyone else, had still looked at Leo when he stripped down to nothing. She had seen him bare. Tonight, the warmth in her body filled her with the desire to see it again.  
  
The suggestion of shyness was not one Leo's pride would allow him to stand for; with an indigant snort, he sat at the bed's edge and rose to his feet. He grasped the lower edge of his shirt and pulled it up over his head, shrugging the fabric off his arms. While his fur was predominantly gray, his face, chin, and the underside of his neck were a snowy white, the same as the shirt itself. Once it was removed and dropped to the floor, Aeris could see that the pearl-hued fur spread over his chest and stomach. He began to unbutton his shorts before his eyes rose to meet hers; with a huff of breath, he turned around to face away from her. She chuckled; Leo had that much modesty, at least. She heard the growl of the zipper as it was undone, and watched with attentive eyes while Leo's paws tugged the denim down his thighs. She purred, perhaps without knowing it--Leo was in better shape than she thought. Athletic musculature rippled beneath his ashen coat when he moved, letting the garment fall to his ankles before kicking it aside as though it were trash.  
  
He looked over his shoulder at her, the length of his tail swishing across his exposed backside. "Satisfied?" he murmured.  
  
Aeris smiled impishly. "Mmmhmm." She watched Leo lie down again, the pale hue of his fur contrasting starkly with the dark olive of the comforter. He continued to look over his shoulder, a sort of accusation in his eyes, as if to say,  _"And you think **I'm**  a pervert."_ But she made no apologies; as he looked upon her, she rose from the chair, reaching for the fabric of her own shirt to begin coaxing it off her body. She had already exposed her stomach to Leo's widened eyes before she realized he was still watching her.  
  
She spun about to hide her front from him his view, hissing defensively. "It's too damn hot in here Leo, and unlike you, I  _am_  shy." Her cheeks had darkened a touch more, the scarlet hue pleasantly accenting her face. "So close your eyes, for God's sake, and give a girl some privacy."  
  
Leo's own face grew slightly flushed, and he was quick to obey, turning his gaze to the wall and squeezing his eyes shut. He could hear Aeris undress, hear the rustle of fabric upon her fur, hear the teeth of the zipper of her shorts as she pulled it downward. Although his eyes were closed, he could still see her in his mind, envisioning the coat of pink that gave way to white upon her chest and belly, just as his own fur did. There came the soft padding of her paws upon the carpet, and the murmur of her voice from across the room. "Do you mind if I leave the fan on?"  
  
"No. Are you sure you don't have a fever or something? If you're getting sick, you might wanna turn it off."  
  
"Yeah, I'm sure. I think just need some sleep."  
  
"Okay. Good night, Aeris."  
  
"G'night Leo."  
  
He heard the click of the light switch and saw darkness fall upon his eyelids. He heard the squeak of the mattress springs as she crawled upon his bed, heard the rustle of the sheets while she pulled them over her body. Only when he was certain that she was no longer exposed did he dare to roll over and face her. His feline eyes could clearly discern her even in the night of the room, how she pressed her cheek into the pillow and gripped its softness with her paws. He smiled, knowing that she could not see him do it. "Aeris?"  
  
Her own eyes opened, glimmering like sapphires in the darkness. "Yeah, Leo?"  
  
"Sweet dreams."  
  
"You too."  
  
***  
  
_He kissed her. It felt good to know the press of a woman's lips against his own again. He hadn't been with a girl in far too long; always too busy with class, or screaming in frustration at a new game to actually find a date.  
  
Her fur was soft beneath his fingers, warm and plush like velvet. He thought his coat was a poor match for hers, dull gray against the warm pink, but she didn't seem to mind; she kissed him in return, a soft purr issuing forth from her throat, the sandpapery texture of her feline tongue lashing and striking upon his lips. He sank the fingers of one paw into her hair, his talons whispering through the sea of pink, gently brushing across the tips of her ears.  
  
He drew away from the kiss with a sigh, rubbing his palm against her cheek. "I wish you were real," he whispered.  
  
"How do you know I'm not?" she purred.  
  
"Because the real her would never let me kiss her."  
  
"Have you ever asked her?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I don't know. I'm afraid of what she'd say, what she'd do. She's my best friend. I don't want to ruin that."  
  
"Why do you say that?"  
  
"Sex ruins the friendship." He had learned that from  **Seinfeld**.  
  
"You love her, don't you?"  
  
"I care about her, yeah. I... don't know what I'd do without her. But I don't know if I love her."  
  
She smiled at him. "What do you think she would do if you told her what you just told me?"  
  
"Her? She'd probably call me an idiot. Or punch me in the face." He paused. "Maybe both."  
  
"Mmm. How do you know she doesn't feel the same way you do?"  
  
"I don't. If she did, I don't think she'd be so mean to me."  
  
The pink cat giggled. "Maybe she's mean to you because she likes you."  
  
He sighed again. "I wish. Somehow I don't think so."  
  
"Poor kitty. Don't give up on her. She's worth it, isn't she?"  
  
"Yeah, she is."  
  
"When you wake up, you should tell her so. I bet she'd like to hear it."  
  
"Okay."  
  
He kissed her again, letting the contact linger, gently raking his claws down her back, his fingers cleaving faint paths through her fur. She broke the contact to smile at him and rested her head upon his chest, softly mewing like a kitten. He closed his eyes and listened to the sound, letting it fill his thoughts while he drifted off to sleep._  
  
***  
  
Leo had thought the mewing was merely a part of the dream, but when he awoke, he could still hear it. It took his eyes a moment to focus in the darkness, but he could clearly see the features of his room cast in the emerald light. His triangular ears flicked and swiveled atop his head; yes, mewing... faint, but definitely not a dream. He turned his gaze toward the source of the sound, toward Aeris, but he could not see her face. She was looking away from him, toward the opposite wall.  
  
"Aeris?" he whispered. No reply. Only the mewing, quiet, constant, urgent. "Aeris!" he repeated, this time more harshly. And again, she said nothing, merely tossing and turning beneath the sheets of her bed.  
  
Leo threw back the fabric of his comforter and crept out of bed, his steps soft and stealthy upon the carpet. He stood at Aeris's side, looking down upon her trembling, writhing shape; she rolled onto her back, revealing her eyes to be tightly shut. She was certainly the cause of the mewing; her lips parted while she slept, the whimpering sound drifting from within.  
  
Leo reached for the switch of the desk lamp by his computer; the old bulb fared little better than the dorm's own lights, flickering rapidly before growing stable, casting a dim light upon Aeris's contorted face. Leo bent down where he stood, grasping her by the shoulders to give her body a gentle shake. "Aeris!" he hissed. "Snap out of it!" Her eyes flashed open in an instant, gleaming a brilliant blue in the dark; Leo very nearly leaped out of his skin, drawing away from her prone form with a sharp gasp.  
  
"Leo!" Her voice was not wrathful, as he expected it to be... rather, she sounded deeply relieved, for reasons he did not understand. She bolted upright in the bed and threw her arms her arms around his neck, hugging her body close against his own. "Leo, Leo, oh, thank God!" she whispered, voice breaking. The pink feline was trembling and crying, and seemed unable to stop doing either.  
  
Leo's first instinct was to wince--Aeris usually lifted her paw to strike him, not embrace him--but when she so desperately held him, whimpering and sobbing into his fur, he reciprocated the touch, slipping his arms about her torso and pressing his paws into her back. "Shhh," he purred, gingerly rubbing his face against the top of her head. "It's okay, it's okay," he whispered. "You were just having a nightmare, it's over now."  
  
Aeris drew back slightly and violently shook her head, pressing both her paws against his chest. "No, no! I wasn't having a nightmare, I wasn't sleeping, I... I was... oh, Leo... Leo, please God, Leo, help me, please!" Her words were hurried and breathless, a panicked whisper, as if she were afraid her lips might be sealed at any moment, rendering her unable to utter them.  
  
Leo didn't know what to make of it; Aeris was, paws-down, the toughest woman he knew. He'd seen her deck guys more than twice her size for smarting off to her, and she'd dropped  _him_  flat too, on more than one occasion. To see her in this state, shivering and pleading and so obviously  _scared_  frightened him as well. "What is it?" he whispered, kneeling at the bedside and pressing a paw against her cheek. "What's the matter? Why--"  
  
She was hot. Physically hot. He could feel it through her fur, feel it rising from her flesh and into his fingertips, the cool breeze from the still-running fan notwithstanding. Aeris was burning up. "You have a fever," he murmured. "You're delerious. I'm going to call 9-1-1."  
  
He had barely stood up and hadn't taken his first step before Aeris sunk her claws into his arms and roughly pulled him back down to his knees. The pain drew a soft mrowl from Leo's lips, but she was too busy swearing at him to notice. "No, Leo! I don't have a fever, goddammit, I'm not  _sick!_  I... I'm..." She lowered her head and bit down hard into her lower lip.  
  
And then Leo caught her scent.  
  
It was an appealing aroma, not unlike that of a rose in the spring. It touched something inside him, something instinctual, coaxed a purr from within his chest, a sound he was too concerned with Aeris to hide. It was potent as well, an odor that seemed to permeate her fur. His eyes widened in the dark, and he finished the statement for her. "You're in heat," he whispered.  
  
Aeris nodded, crystalline tears streaming down her furred cheeks. It was hardly the first time--she wasn't a kitten anymore, and she'd been with males before--but she'd rather suffer its onset at any other time, any other place, with  _anyone_  else... so long as it didn't happen in the company of Leo. Please, God, anyone but her friend, her Leo. That was her real nightmare, and it was coming true right in front of him.  
  
"Where are your pills?" he whispered. The university distributed free medication to suppress estrus in females, both for the sake of planned parenthood, and for the sake of academics; estrus in cats could last between two to three  _weeks_ , making it impossible for the women on campus to focus on their studies without some kind of aid.  
  
Aeris gave her head another furious shake. "I, I forgot them, they're in my room. It was a stupid mistake, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" The poor cat was squirming where she sat, panting with each breath, anxiously wringing the fabric of the sheet that covered her within her paws.  
  
"It's all right," Leo purred consolingly, resting his paws atop her own. "I'll go get them and bring them back for you. Would that be okay?"  
  
"No!" she cried, clutching him all the more tightly, squeezing her eyes shut. "They... they won't let you in the Tower, not without a female escort. And... and even if they did, you'd have to call the guard to open the door, and... and... oh Leo, don't leave me here alone, please don't!"  
  
"Okay, okay, I won't, I won't leave you," came his hurried whisper, lest she break down into a fresh round of sobs. But it did little to improve her condition; assuming he could get estrus medication, it would take an hour or two to take effect, but if he did  _nothing_ , then she'd be like this all night. But what else could he do? "Can't you... uh... sate it, or something?"  
  
Aeris's expression was one of shock. She gently pushed back upon Leo's chest, holding him at arm's length, sky-blue eyes as wide as marbles. "It... it doesn't work that way, Leo. My body isn't a fucking ATM slot you can just stick something in to satisfy!" Her last words were more growled than spoken, but given her condition, it was understandable. She trembled hard within his grasp, averting her gaze from his, and whispered. "I... I need a male... or I need my pills..."  
  
_And we've established that we're all out of pills,_  Leo thought. He bit down upon his own lip, inhaling through his nostrils, and let the breath out in a long, soft sigh.  _Okay. If that's the way it has to be. I just hope you don't hate me in the morning._ Without a word, he leaned in close to her, tenderly swabbing the rasp of his tongue across her forehead, and over the soft fur of her cheek.


	2. World 1-1, Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DISCLAIMER: VG Cats is the property of Scott "The Amazing Rando" Ramsoomair, whose characters are used here without permission, for entertainment purposes only. This story was not written for profit, and it was not written to libel Scott Ramsoomair.
> 
> Visit Scott, Leo, and Aeris at http://www.vgcats.com
> 
> This story is intended for mature audiences.

Aeris gasped more loudly than she wished to, lagoon-blue eyes half-lidding, her head instinctively canting to one side. "Leo... what...?" she began, but was silenced by the press of his finger against her lips. His muzzle slipped up the side of her face, teeth and tongue alighting upon the point of one ear, gracing her hair with the heat of his breath while he whispered.  
  
"Don't worry, Aeris... just try to relax... and I'll take care of you. I'll try to make it quick, I promise." His paws pressed against her shoulders, coaxing her to rest upon her back; she fell back slowly, without resistance, her own paws drifting along the length of his arms while she went. A faint smile creased her lips.  
  
"I... I appreciate the thought, Leo, but... the last thing a girl wants to hear is that it'll be over quick." She purred quietly. "Take your time... and..." He could see a fresh blush rise to her cheeks, a fitting match for the rest of her pink body. "Turn out the light? Please?"  
  
Leo nodded, reaching to flick the switch on his desk lap once more, blanketing the room in shadow. Despite the absence of light, Aeris was easy for him to see; her lightly-hued fur was well-illuminated by his natural night vision. He carefully crawled upon the bed to join her, the mattress creaking in protest beneath his added weight, straddling himself across her thighs to press his knees into the sheets along either side of her. His head lowered once more, allowing his rough tongue to pay tender homage to her face, basking her cheeks and lips in faint, warm moisture.  
  
She seemed calmer now, and receptive to Leo's attentions; that made him feel better about what he was doing, about the the intimacy he had been afraid to share with her. She purred when he kissed her, even though he had forgotten to ask her permission, his lips meeting hers quickly and softly, once, twice, three times--and she giggled when he nuzzled her, quietly delighting in the ginger rub of his cheeks against her own, feeling his whiskers tickle upon her furred flesh. She tilted her head back against the cushioned pillow to bare her face and neck to his touch. "Mmm," came her purring whisper, "Haven't nuzzled since we were kittens..."   
  
Leo could feel her purr as well as hear it, the sound a deep thrum that rumbled from her chest and into his own. It was a sound of approval, one that helped to spur on his gentle attentions. His lips drifted southward, away from her own, pressing against her chin, her neck--they captured a sliver of her skin between them, his cool teeth and delicious tongue suckling the flavor away, and drawing a new, soft gasp from within her lungs. She draped her arms around his neck, sinking one paw into his short gray hair, stroking and petting the soft strands. Her remaining paw lay claim to one of his shoulders, kneading and grasping it beneath her claws.  
  
His head slipped lower and lower upon her body, the warmth of his tongue washing over the pit of her throat and across her collarbone. It wasn't until his face pressed against her bosom that he abruptly realized she was every bit as bare as he, without a scrap of clothing to hide her body from his sight; she must have removed her undergarments in an attempt to cope with the involuntary heat of her body. Her body was colored in a similar pattern to his own, the dominant pink of her form yielding to a creamy white that ran down her neck, spread over the swell of her chest, and continued down her belly. He was hesitant to touch that sensitive flesh at first, but her continued purring encouraged him; his paws came to rest upon her breasts, lightly clasping and kneading the pale-furred flesh. Aeris responded well to the intimate touch, arching her back to urge her body into the grasp of his fuzzy paws, a soft, needy moan escaping her lips without her consent.  
  
The moan died upon her muzzle, melting into a sharp, deep gasp when his lips affixed themselves to the pink crest of a vulnerable nipple. The paw she dipped into his mane of hair tightened into a fist, half-heartedly attempting to pull him away while he thoroughly treated that nub of flesh, lashing and striking his raspy tongue upon it, gently tugging upon it with his teeth, suckling and nursing her like a newborn kitten. "Leo... d-don't... I... I..." she breathed, only for her protests to yield to a second, louder moan that betrayed her enjoyment. Her claws pressed against the back of his head, silently urging him upon his meal; he drew his head back only to have it descend once more upon her other, neglected breast, granting it with equal tender attention, licking, kissing, nibbling, suckling. Aeris allowed her eyes to slip shut, relishing the feel of Leo's body atop her own, slowly twisting her head back and forth upon the softness of the pillow.  
  
She gave a start beneath him, suddenly aware of a new warmth pressing against her thigh--solid, and hot, completely seperate from the paws that worshipped and squeezed her tenderly abused chest. She willed motion to her paw upon his shoulder, slowly dragging it down his chest and over his side, brushing her fingertips across his thigh. She took careful hold of that shaft of flesh, rubbing her palm over its firmness, trailing her fingers along the innumerable tiny barbs that lined its surface. Her exploring touch fell lower, cautiously grasping at the swell of the furred sack at its base, granting it a soft squeeze. "Oooh, Leo," she purred, her panting voice tinged both with jest, and with lust. "I suppose... you're not a kitten anymore... are you?"  
  
Leo shivered at the contact upon his member, drawing his head away from his feast of flesh to reward her with a strained groan of pleasure. He rose into an upright position atop her, stroking his own fingers across her slender belly, a soft purr undercarrying his murmured words. "Give me a minute... I think I have a condom in my wallet..." Before he could rise to fetch it, however, Aeris gave his mane a light tug of her paw, drawing his face closer to her own. "Ow, ow!" he whispered, growling quietly. "What'd I do?"  
  
Aeris grinned, running her tongue over her lips, tilting her head to whisper into one of his pointed ears. "You won't need one."  
  
Leo chuckled faintly, leaning over her prone body to press his lips against her forehead, whispering in reply. "No offense, but I don't want you having a litter of my kittens." He was quiet before adding in a softer tone, "Not right now."  
  
Aeris purred more loudly, lifting her paws to rub her palms upon Leo's shoulders, a smile remaining upon her lips. "I won't, Leo. I'll take care of it."  
  
"What do you mean? How?"  
  
"I'll handle it, okay?" One of her paws rose to run her claws through his hair, a soft whimper escaping her. "Just trust me... like I trust you... please?"  
  
He tilted his head downward, allowing his eyes to lull shut, the fur upon the back of his neck rising to meet the touch of her fingers. "Okay," he whispered. He kissed her again, softly, the contact long and deep, his purr rising to merge and add to her own, before drawing back again. Leo shifted his stance, easing himself off her lap, pressing his paws against her inner thighs to coax her legs apart. He scooted forward upon her knees, inching closer to her body, the pink cat's shimmering eyes leveled upon him, watching his approach.  
  
Leo sighed, running his fingers along the shaft of flesh between his own legs. The sight and the smell of Aeris, to say nothing of her own affections, had made him pleasantly stiff. He grasped the base of his length with one paw, guiding the swollen head upon and around the exposed lips of her sex. She whimpered again, more loudly than before. "Please... Leo... don't tease me... not tonight..." He readily obliged her, easing himself inside her one slow inch at a time, hissing out his pleasure through clenched teeth, slipping in deeper, and deeper... and purring audibly in satisfaction, when he found he could go no further. He thought he fit her well; she was snug, but not prohibitively so, her body matching his like two pieces of a good puzzle.  
  
His first motions against her were slow, and leisurely, allowing her to grow accustomed to the sensation of his spiny length slowly slipping in and out of her body. Aeris enjoyed the union, if her constant purring was any indication, to say nothing of the way her body arched off the bedsheets, her upper back and shoulders pressing down upon her pillow. Leo ran his paws over her thighs, his claws dancing along the physique of her slender legs; he let out a quiet growl when they moved, wrapping around his body, her ankles crossing together just above the base of his swishing tail. He leaned farther over her body, bearing the weight of his firm chest down upon her own, urging her body to sink into the soft, yielding sheets below.  
  
Aeris pressed her paws against Leo's cheeks, running her claws down his neck, brushing her fingers through the heat of his fur, purring in enjoyment of the mating. She was startled to hear a soft, unexpected jingle, her eyes forcing themselves to crack open and focus upon the source of the sound; she had unknowingly touched his bell, which even now hung from its normal place about his neck. She'd been so upset by the onset of her heat that she hadn't noticed it there before. Her claws stroked across the surface of the metallic accessory, bringing to life a second ring. They slipped down to run across the material of the collar that held the trinket to his neck, and her eyes widened; she didn't know Leo even wore a collar. It was always concealed by the shirts he wore. She could not help chuckling, even as his hips moved against her own, soft gasps of breath punctuating her whispered words. "Mmm... a... a collar, Leo?" She purred, granting it additional touches, feeling its thickness, and texture. "A leather one... at that... mmmmm..." Her head fell back against the pillow, a smirk upon her lips. "Kinky kitty... you'll have to... tell me more about that..."  
  
Leo pressed his paws into the sheets at her sides to better support his weight. He rested his forehead against her own, purring strongly, his thrusts against her growing more quick, more forceful. "Mmmnh," he growled, "Later..." His motions had steadily grown more smooth, more fluid, almost completely withdrawing his length from within her, only to pump back in again. The passage was made easier by the nectar of her sex, serving to lubricate his shaft with every inward stroke. His fingers gripped the fabric of the sheets, clenching the material into his fists, bracing his increasingly rougher movements against her body.  
  
Aeris tilted her head far back, allowing herself a deep, rich moan, her feminine form jarred where it lay by each of Leo's thrusts. She could feel his muscles shifting within his thighs, driving his movements against and within her, feel the length of his tail brushing across the soles of her feet. She looped her arms beneath his own, slowly raking her claws down his back with intentional force, scratching his ash-furred flesh with her unique, empassioned brand. "Leo..." came her breathless whisper, "Harder... please, please Leo... harder... harder!" She clung tightly to his body, all four limbs wrapped about his shape, the length of her tail slowly coiling and winding about its gray counterpart.  
  
He seemed eager to obey her, his thrusts quick to grow firm, and fast. He was quiet, for the most part, for she could hear him purring, and occasionally growling, but he did not moan and cry out as she did. Her ears drank in the sounds of the mating, from the soft, wet impact of his furred sack upon her sex, to the noise of ripping fabric as his claws rent into his own bedsheets. The springs of the mattress squeaked softly with every thrust he made against her, a mildly irritating noise she ignored in favor of the ringing of his bell, which sang and called out freely from its place upon his neck. Her fingers could feel the muscles in his back flexing beneath his fur, growing taut, his hips driving her down against the waiting sheets again, and again, and again.  
  
Aeris loved it. She wasn't sure if she'd ever admit it to Leo or not, but he made her feel wonderful. Her earlier torment, the hour she had spent writhing and twisting amidst the sheets, consumed by her own inner fire, was all but forgotten; her mind was awash with the feel of his barbed shaft easily slipping in and out of her, of the sensation of his paws wandering across her curves. She'd thought that video games were his only area of skill, but he had handled her body with the same ease as any controller; she blushed beneath him, wondering how he might react if she told him he knew just how to "push her buttons". He was a delicious lover, one who treated her as tenderly as she could hope, and who now mated her with all the ferality of a wild cat, his thrusts against her rapid and harsh, plunging his member inside her over and over. Yesss, he was growling now, loudly, albeit unevenly, baring his teeth and fangs for her to see through the encompassing darkness. Her own heart was racing within her chest, every fiber of her body set aflame with a new, blissful fire, one she allowed to burn through every vein, every strand of pink fur upon her.  
  
It wasn't until he bit her that she came. He'd been growling into her face, clutching the bedsheets at her sides with such ferocity that she was sure his knuckles must have gone white. He was hissing and snarling, mating her with all the force she had begged him for... but it wasn't until he opened his jaws and closed them upon the side of her neck, granting her the rapture of a tight love bite, that she was able to reward him with her scream. She had intended to call out his name, but it had been cut off by her own feline shriek, her entire body arching from its place upon the bed, pressing her furred curves hungrily against his masculine silhouette, her body milking and nursing his stiff maleness for the gift it possessed. She twisted her head to the left and right, gasping and moaning, scratching and clawing at his back all the while, her only real outlet for the waves of pleasure that crashed over her. She could feel his own climax, brought on by hers, although his was more subdued; any roar or screeching come-cry he might have wished to voice was silenced against her neck, rumbling into her flesh and coursing throughout her body. His hips made a last, savage thrust against her own, impaling her lithe body upon the length of his member, filling her needy sex with hot spurts of his pearly feline seed.  
  
And then, as quickly as it had flared up, the flame of Aeris's passion flickered, and burned out. She could do little more than cling weakly to Leo, rubbing her palms up and down his cat-scratched back, nestling her face into the crook of his shoulder, and purring contentedly. He had fairly collapsed atop her, understandably drained, his tail squeezing and embracing her own, while his lips brushed over the tip of one of her ears. His arms wedged themselves beneath the mattress and her own body so that they too could press against her back, as if to somehow urge her close her against him, impossible as it was. When his cheek came to a rest in the valley between her breasts, she buried her muzzle admist the strands of his hair, inhaling his scent and whispering into his ears. Her carnal thirst had been deliciously quenched, the smoldering heat between her thighs soundly extinguished. "Leo... mmm, thank you... I... I really needed that..."  
  
Leo purred in kind, sighing into her fur, relishing the feel of her legs embracing his waist, of her fingers trailing small, nonsensical patters upon his back, and neck. "You're welcome," he murmured. He lifted his eyes to meet her own; her hair was long, and a few of the pink strands hung over her face, partially obscuring it from his view. Leo smiled and lifted a paw to brush them away from her gleaming eyes, purring low, but then his smile fell, his pointed ears splaying back. "But... what are you going to do?"  
  
"Mmm? About what?"  
  
"About..." Leo struggled to find the right word and, failing to do so, settled for, "... kittens."  
  
"Mmmm," Aeris purred. She smiled down upon him, gently ruffling his hair with a paw. "Relax, tiger. I always carry around a few pills with me. There's a bottle in my shorts."  
  
Leo's jaw slacked. "But... you said you didn't have any pills!"  
  
"I don't have any heat-suppression pills, no. But I  _do_  have some morning-after pills." She couldn't resist grinning at him, lightly scratching beneath his chin with a lone claw. "You know... just in case a naughty kitty like you should try to seduce me."  
  
"Hmph. Naughty my ass," he murmured. Yet, he made no more complaints; he withdrew his shaft from within her with a soft hiss, the spent member still sensitive to touch. He leaned in close against her, stroking his paws along her shoulderblades, listening to the hurried beat of her heart as it gradually calmed itself. He was silent, for a time, as was she, simply basking in the afterglow, the warmth and touch, the drift of satisfied purr from ear-to-ear. After an eternity, he whispered to her again. "Hey."  
  
"Mmm?"  
  
"Can I ask you something?"  
  
"Mmm. What?"  
  
"Why do you treat me the way you do?"  
  
"What way is that?" she mused.  
  
"You know damn well what way it is. Always calling me names... being so mean to me."  
  
Aeris actually laughed, the whole of her bare body quaking with the melodious sound. She smiled broadly at Leo, cupping a paw against the rear of his head. "You mean you don't know?"  
  
He growled softly. "If I knew, then I wouldn't be asking you."  
  
She smirked, bowing her head to nuzzle at his cheeks, her voice soft and sweet, speaking in a faintly chiding, but playful tone that Leo had never heard her use with him before. "Leo Leonardo, didn't your mother ever teach you anything?" Leo stared at her blankly; his expression made her giggle. "If a girl is mean to you," she continued, gently scratching between his ears, "then it's only because she likes you."  
  
Leo blinked--it was all he could manage--before a smile creased his own lips. He lifted his face closer to hers, rubbing the tip of his nose upon her own, whispering, "Hmm. A friend of mine told me the same thing once."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Mmmhmm. She also asked me whether or not I thought you were worth it."  
  
Aeris arched an eyebrow. " _Did_  she? I don't suppose I know this friend of yours?"  
  
Leo merely grinned. "Quite well, actually. But I can't tell you her name."  
  
"Hmph. Well, what about it, tiger? Am I worth it?"  
  
"Yeah," he purred. "You certainly are."  
  
He kissed her, kissed her  _well_ , sealing his lips against her own, letting his rough tongue dance and mingle with its playmate. She gripped at his hair and the fur upon the back of his neck, faintly tugging, as if she would urge him away, when he knew better than to draw back. When he broke the union, she purred with delight, resting her chin atop his head, and whispered into an ear her fingertips stroked. "So... what now, kitty? What's going to happen to us now?"  
  
"I don't know." He winked. "Not going to ask me to enter my initials, are you?"  
  
She laughed again, and as Leo's eyelids drifted shut, he could hear the soft rumble of her purr, mixed with the gentle, rhythmic beating of her heart.  
  
***  
  
 _This time, it was she who kissed him. Eagerly, with visible zeal, as if she had not seen his face in weeks. Her paws hugged tightly against his back, roaming up and down through his fur, in an attempt to etch every gray inch of him into memory._  
  
He behaved no better, mewing and mrowling into her ear like a kitten, pressing his lips against her forehead, her cheeks, her chin, peppering her face with light, quick touches of his muzzle, and rapid lashes of his tongue.  
  
She lay atop him, purring and nuzzling her face into his neck, kneading her claws into his chest. His hands came to rest upon her own, locking his fingers with hers, a soft sigh whispering past his lips.  
  
"What's the matter?" she purred.  
  
"It's nothing," he lied.  
  
"Now, now. I know you better than that. Tell me."  
  
"It's just that... well... I still wish you were real."  
  
"Are you saying I'm not?"  
  
"No, you're not. Sorry."  
  
"Mmm. And why aren't I?"  
  
"Because I'm dreaming again."  
  
"Oh?" She smiled at him--the same warm smile from that day long ago, when she'd given him the bell. "Tell me... are you so sure?"  
  
He smiled in return, and without a word, kissed her once again.


	3. World 1-2, Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DISCLAIMER: VG Cats is the property of Scott "Zoidberg" Ramsoomair, whose characters are used here without permission, for entertainment purposes only. This story was not written for profit, and it was not written to libel Scott Ramsoomair.
> 
> Visit Scott, Leo, and Aeris at http://www.vgcats.com
> 
> This story is intended for mature audiences.

Aeris sighed. Vana'diel was beautiful at night.  
  
Port Windurst was especially so; it was a clear evening, and the moon shone brightly overhead, casting its pale rays down to reflect upon the rippling waters of the wide open ocean. There were no ships in port tonight, allowing her a clear view of the vast expanse of dark water. The waves created a soft, soothing sound as they lapped upon the shore and the structure of the Orastery. Aeris was glad that she and Leo had chosen this spot for the ceremony.  
  
A week had passed since he asked her to marry him. It had taken that long to make the necessary arrangements.  
  
The decision itself had not been a difficult one to make; after all, out of all the men in Vana'diel, Leo was easily the one she could best tolerate as being her husband. The only real obstacle had been raising enough money to go ahead with the proceedings. Weddings in Vana'diel were hardly cheap; the lowest rate at which one could hire an official to supervise the ceremony was 20,000 gil--she had heard rumors of charges as high as 80,000 in the lands across the sea, although she could not confirm them for herself--and  _that_  was excluding the additional 50,000 required for the tailoring of her wedding dress. And yet, she and Leo had somehow managed to scrape the money together, between the two of them. They had both auctioned off virtually everything they owned, every weapon, every piece of armor. For a time, she was afraid that Leo would be forced to attend in the nude for the sake of being able to afford her dress, but he assured her that he would show up in "something appropriate" for the occasion. For some reason, coming from Leo, that statement was at once both reassuring and cause for concern.  
  
But despite all that, Aeris still smiled. The pawning of all their worldy possessions had been worth it. She thought she looked quite impressive in her bridal gown; the pearl silk and lace shone brightly in the bath of the moonlight, and stood out starkly upon the rosy pink of her fur. The fabric was warm, and exquisitely soft, just as she had expected it to be. However, she had to admit that the garment left her feeling slightly exposed--the Mithra dress was rather scantily-designed. It included no veil or train, and left her shoulders quite bare. It was more akin to armor than formal wear; long white gloves as sturdy as any gauntlet ran up to her elbows, and stockings of the same material flowed from just above her knees down into thick, pearl-hued boots. The 'body' of the dress left uncomfortably little to the imagination, hugging against her silhouette in a snug corset, and leaving a fair share of the fur upon her thighs exposed. When she first donned the garment in her Mog House, she had blushed; at the time, she felt more like some twisted sort of dominatrix than a bride.  
  
The thought brought a fanged smirk to her lips. She couldn't  _wait_  to see the expression on Leo's face when he saw her.  
  
Aeris frowned. Where  _was_  Leo, anyway? The ceremony was to be conducted on a tight schedule, so that the Sibyl Celebrants--the officials in Windurst who presided over weddings--would have time enough to supervise all of the couples in Windurst who had applied to be married on a given date. The bride and groom were supposed to appear at the selected place an hour before the proceedings actually began, and it was a rule that was rigidly enforced; Aeris had simply been lucky that this particular Celebrant had been so patient with her.  
  
She could hear the priestess approaching again; the sandals she wore made a distinct sound upon the Orastery roof. As beautiful as Aeris believed her gown made her look, she thought the Celebrant to be more majestic still. She was a gorgeous Mithra garbed in long, flowing robes of white that whispered upon the ground as she walked. A necklace of shimmering gold adorned her neck, and a diamond-encrusted tiara of the same material rested upon her head. She almost seemed to glow in the moonlight; the natives of Windurst claimed the servants of the Star Sybil were endowed with a mystical aura, and now Aeris could have sworn she  _saw_  it, swirling about the Celebrant like a faint mist. When the priestess spoke, her voice was soft, and her smile broad. "Your groom remains absent, I take it?"  
  
Aeris nodded with a sigh. "Yes. I'm very sorry... it figures that Leo would be late for his own wedding." She forced a smile. "Give him five more minutes. If he doesn't arrive, I promise I'll fetch him myself." She was quiet for a moment before growling, "And if he leaves me at the altar, I swear to God I'll  _kill_  him."  
  
The Celebrant merely chuckled and shook her head. "Be at peace, young bride. Delays happen to the best of us. I am sure your companion is hurrying his way here even as we speak."  
  
Aeris turned her gaze from the shifting sea to look fully upon the priestess, her expression one of puzzlement. "You're being awfully understanding about all this. It's not that I don't appreciate your putting up with us, but to be quite honest, I half-expected to be rescheduling my wedding by now."  
  
The Celebrant laughed; the sound was melodious, like the notes of a sweet song, and it coaxed a genuine smile to Aeris's face. "This is meant to be a special night, my dear... for both you, and your chosen one. I believe I would be terribly remiss in my duties as a Sybil Celebrant if I were to let your impending joy be ruined simply because of a few minutes' postponement. I shall wait upon your love until the last possible moment."  
  
The snort from within Aeris's muzzle was not the reaction the priestess had expected; the pink cat trembled with stifled laughter, cupping a paw over her muzzle to hush the sound. "My love, huh?" she managed at last, her amused smirk still remaining.  
  
The Celebrant canted her head to one side, purring inquisitively. "He is the man you intend to marry. You  _do_  love him, do you not?"  
  
Aeris leaned back upon the railing of the roof, tilting her gaze upward to look upon the innumerable stars that speckled the sky. "Mmm. You know," she murmured, "if you had asked me that question a few weeks ago, I would have told you to go f--" She bit down upon her lip to stop herself, pale cheeks growing flushed, and began again. "I would have said you were crazy. But now, I'm honestly not so sure."  
  
The Celebrant's smile returned, wider than before. "You have known him long?"  
  
"All my life." She shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno, it's just... Leo's crude, and impulsive, and foul-mouthed, and simple-minded, and a painfully annoying smartass." She lowered her eyes to the ground, twin spheres sparkling like sapphires in the dark of the night. "He's all those things...  _and_  my best friend in the world." She shook her head. "Leo's always been there. I can't imagine my life without him. I... I don't  _want_  to imagine it."  
  
"Mmm. And you would not call this love?"  
  
Aeris lifted her gaze to that of the priestess, frowning. "Am I allowed to love my best friend?"  
  
The Celebrant never ceased to smile. "It is the philosophy among the Celebrants that one's spouse should always be one's best friend. I leave it to you to decide whether or not this is true." Aeris's frown only deepened; the priestess stepped forward, resting a paw upon the pink feline's exposed shoulder, and purred reassuringly. "Have faith, child. Love conquers all. He will come, you will see. When he does, I shall be waiting for the both of you."  
  
Aeris feigned a smile, nodding. "Thank you." She listened to the gentle rustle of the Celebrant's robes as she strode away, and returned her gaze to the rippling darkness of the ocean beyond the port, and the matching ebony of the sky above. The sky of Vana'diel was littered with stars of all hues and colors, white and yellow, red and purple, blue and orange. She settled upon a pair of shimmering greens, spaced close together, and saw his emerald eyes looking down upon her from the heavens. A string of white stars beneath became his shining smile, and her mind changed the surrounding blackness to ashen gray, to complete the illusion.  
  
"I know you can't hear me, Leo," she whispered to the night, "but wherever you are... I..."  
  
"You what?"  
  
Aeris gasped; she was sure her heart had stopped dead within her chest. She spun around to see Leo's smirking face looking right back at her-- _real_ , not merely a yearning wish upon distant stars. She hadn't heard his approach; unlike the Celebrant, he had made no sound at all. She couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face, azure eyes wide and shining. Her body clung to his, instinctively, throwing her arms about his neck, rubbing her cheeks upon his own with a delighted purr... and then, with a dark scowl, she withdrew from his form, furred lips curling into a snarl. "Leo Leonardo, you son of a  _bitch!_ " she hissed. One of her gloved drew back and swiftly struck him across the face, drawing a sharp mrowl of pain from his muzzle while she continued to rail at him. "Where in the  _hell_  have you been, you idiot? Do you know how long I've been standing here in the dark stripped down almost to my  _goddamn underwear_  waiting for you to show up? You are damned lucky that the Sybil Celebrant hasn't already thrown me out of here on my ass, and she still might, no thanks to--"  
  
Leo pressed a paw against her mouth to quiet her; with the other, he gingerly rubbed his smarting cheek, looking upon his pink counterpart with wincing eyes. "Hello to you too, Aeris," he murmured. Her eyes glared daggers at him, captive lips merely growling into his palm. Chuckling quietly, he allowed his paw to slip from her muzzle to stroke the fur upon her cheek, brushing his fingers across the lengths of her whiskers. "I'm sorry about being late." He winked at her, one verdant eye closing to leave its twin gleaming alone in the shadows. "If you're  _that_  upset about it, I suppose I can just head back out."  
  
Her anger quickly gave way to regret; she tilted her head into the touch of his paw, purring under her breath, allowing her own eyes to slip shut. "Don't leave, Leo," she whispered. "I didn't mean to blow up at you... but where have you been? I've been getting worried about you."  
  
He growled irritably, narrowing his eyes. "Hmph. I swear I got jumped by every monster between here and the outpost. Without any weapons, I didn't have any choice except to run around in circles until some adventurers came by and got them off my back." He glanced down at his clothing. "At least I got away without getting myself dirty, I think."  
  
It wasn't until then that Aeris actually took note of what he was wearing. Leo was dressed all in black, with the exception of a red scarf draped about his neck. The material he wore, much like her own dress, was tight upon his body; it was glossy, like rubber, and made his body look unusually muscular. It was thickest upon his chest and shoulders, but thinned out along his arms into a fishnet-like texture that she could see through. The 'pants' he wore were designed in similar fashion; sturdy, black leather armor around his thighs and midsection that reached to his knees and yielded to intricate netting upon his shins. His feet were bare--perhaps that was why he had been able to sneak up on her with such stealth. "Leo?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Why are you dressed like a ninja?"  
  
"Because... I  _am_  a ninja?"  
  
Aeris's eyes narrowed. "I'm aware of that, Leo. But you don't honestly expect us to get married with you looking like Shinobi, do you?" She took a step back from him, spreading her arms out at her sides to draw his attention to her gown. "I mean, look at me. I'm a monk, but I didn't show up in my karate gi, did I?"  
  
Leo did not respond. Aeris did not know what to make of his expression; his dark green eyes had grown wide, the points of his ears folding back atop his head. His lips had parted, yet no sound escaped them. He looked rather like he'd been struck in the abdomen, and had the wind knocked out of him. "Leo?" she whispered. "Leo, what's wrong?"  
  
"Oh my God," he breathed. Aeris could see his eyes drifting upward, then downward, then back up again. "You... you're..."  
  
She looked hurt. "What? What's wrong with me?"  
  
"You're...  _beautiful_."  
  
Aeris blinked, just before she felt the rush of heat fill her cheeks. She realized that she must have slapped him before he had gotten a good look at her. She drew close against him, pressing her palms against the sturdy material that guarded his chest, gently dragging her fingertips across its surface. "Shame on you," she purred. "Saying things you know will make a girl blush." She shivered at the gentle lash of his raspy tongue upon her ear, and the warmth of his breath disturbing the strands of her hair.  
  
"Mmm... but what sort of bride should I have, if not a blushing one, hmm?"  
  
She pushed away from him, just slightly, returning his devilish smirk with one of her own. "Save that silver tongue of yours for the honeymoon, tiger." She grasped the netting upon one of his arms between her fingers, granting the material a gentle tug. "But seriously, Leo... what's with the getup? You told me that you'd wear 'something appropriate'. This is... well...  _not appropriate_." She arched an eyebrow. "And what's the deal with you and leather, anyway?"  
  
Leo snorted. "There is no 'deal'." He shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, but at least it's black. It's the closest thing I had to a tuxedo. I would've liked to wear something better, but you know the tailors don't do wedding packages for men."  
  
"I think, young ninja," came the merry voice, "that what is  _inside_  the package is more important than the color of its wrappings, hmm?"  
  
Aeris had waved to the Celebrant as she approached, but poor Leo hadn't noticed her at all, and nearly leaped out of his tights when she called out. His reaction seemed to amuse the Celebrant; she laughed, the sound clear and rich, and lightly clapped her hands upon his shoulders when he spun about to face her. "Ahh," she purred, "so  _this_  is the fine young man we've all been waiting for, hmm? And what might I call you, sir?"  
  
Leo looked sheepish. He rubbed a paw behind his head, lowering his eyes while he spoke. "Leo, ma'am. Leo Orlando Leonardo."  
  
The Celebrant smiled, and bowed her head. "A pleasure, Sir Leo." The priestess had dark violet eyes that seemed to shift from one hue to another as she looked upon them both; Aeris was fascinated by the swirling colors, but Leo appeared rather unnerved by the display. Her own expression was one of approval. "Mmm. A handsome young cat, I must say. 'Tis a fitting partner you have found for yourself, Lady Aeris. Know, sir, that your lady speaks quite highly of you. Are you ready to proceed with the ceremony?"  
  
Leo glanced at Aeris--who merely smirked at him, and said nothing--and nodded to the Celebrant. "We will be. May I have a moment alone with her before we begin?"  
  
The priestess nodded in turn. "Of course. But be swift, dear sir, for we have already fallen behind schedule. I cannot delay your union much longer without risking the displeasure of the Star Sybil." With that, she walked with hurried steps to the center of the roof to take her place at the waiting altar.  
  
When Leo turned to look upon Aeris, he found that she had returned her gaze to the port, as if scanning the night horizon for sign of an approaching ship. Leo purred at the sight of her; the moonlight appeared to envelop her body just as naturally as the fabric of her dress did, granting her silhouette a glow that was not to be matched by any artificial dyes or makeup. Rather than clash against the surrounding white, the pink of her pelt served to accent her shape. Her long hair of the same color flowed over her shoulders and down her back in a silken waterfall, the soft strands whispering upon the fabric of her gown. He moved silently, stepping close behind her and wrapping his arms around her sides, loosely locking his fingers together upon her belly. "Speak 'highly' of me, do you?" he murmured. "Been spreading stories about me around Windurst behind my back?"  
  
Aeris's hands fell to rest atop his own, granting his paws a squeeze. "Mmm, I don't know who  _she_  was listening to," she replied. " _I_  called you a trash-talking idiot. Not exactly the kindest things a woman could say about her fiancé."  
  
Leo buried his face within the sea of pink that was her hair with a soft, playful growl, resting his chin upon her shoulder while his paws gave her middle a squeeze. "Oh, I dunno," he mused, "I thought the part about my being your best friend in the world was awfully nice, myself."  
  
He would have liked to seen her face just then; he swore he could feel the heat emanating from her flushed cheeks. "If you've been here that long," she quietly scolded, "then why didn't you come out sooner, and save us all the trouble?"  
  
"Oh, you know me, Aeris," he teased. "I was being fashionably late... you know how much I love to make a grand entrance." His paws slipped to her waist, grasping gentle hold to turn her about where she stood; she offered no resistance, and leaned back upon the railing to face him anew, lagoon-blue eyes gazing into the endless green of his own. "So... do you still want to do this the way we planned?"  
  
She frowned. "Oh, I don't know, Leo. The Celebrant has been so kind to the both of us... she could've left a long time ago, but she didn't. I don't know if I want to put her through that."  
  
"Aww, c'monnn," Leo purred. "We discussed how we wanted things to go last week, and it's part of her job to deal with weddings that don't always run smoothly. Besides, we've both already sold everything we own... what have we got to lose?"  
  
Aeris had to smile at him; his eyes were bright, and the grin upon his lips was full of childlike mischief, like a kitten eager to attack a ball of yarn. She draped her arms around his neck, the moonlit fabric of her dress standing out against the ebony of his jumpsuit, and fondly nuzzled his cheeks, sighing in gentle resignation. "Hey... what the hell, right?" She smirked, drawing her head back to look upon his face once more, touching the tip of her nose to his. "Okay, tiger. You win."  
  
Leo chuckled, striking the sandpaper texture of his tongue upon her cheeks with a throaty purr. "Attagirl. Now, come on." He reached up to grasp one of her paws within his own, squeezing it within his palm. "Let's have some fun."  
  
***  
  
A small crowd had gathered near the altar. Neither Leo nor Aeris had actually invited any guests, partly because they held a deep-seated contempt for the vast majority of the other people in Vana'diel, and partly because larger weddings required larger monetary fees which neither of them could afford. Despite that, a few passing adventurers had spotted Aeris in her wedding dress, waiting for Leo to arrive, and had decided to stop by and watch the ceremony.  
  
Aeris could see five of them, each one a seperate member of the five races of Vana'diel. Their names hung in the air above their heads--as did her own, Leo's, and that of everyone else in Vana'diel--all inscribed in white letters she could clearly make out.  
  
The male Hume, ANGELSEPHIROTH, was dressed all in black, and appeared to be brooding; his arms were folded across his chest, and his gaze was downcast. There was a Galka named Bluto who seemed amiable enough, for he was smiling, and waved to Aeris and Leo as they approached. The movement of his arm caused the plates of the heavy armor he was wearing to loudly clatter together. A female Mithra named NekoNeko69 knelt upon the ground near the altar, idly grooming her own paws; Aeris could tell both by the basic, flimsy armor she wore and the visible question mark next to her name that she was new to Vana'diel. A female Elvaan, Galadriel, was garbed in similar fashion to the Sybil Celebrant herself, for she wore long white robes that reached all the way to the ground. Aeris guessed she was a white mage. The last of the 'guests' was a male Tarutaru by the handle of sk8rh0bbit, who seemed to be accompanying Galadriel--or, at least, he certainly acted like it. Whenever one of the other spectators stepped near her, the diminuitive creature stepped before her defensively, gibbering in a high, fast voice that Aeris could not cleary understand.  
  
Aeris glanced at Leo, and saw his jaw tighten; he  _hated_  the Tarutaru. They had chosen Windurst for their wedding because it was the home of the feline Mithra, and therefore the best place to find a tailor that could properly fit Aeris for a dress. However, Windurst was also home to the Tarutaru, a playful, childlike race of dwarves, all the members of which spoke with a severe lisp. They would mingle and frolic in broad daylight in sickening displays of 'cute' that turned Leo's stomach. They were an obscenely happy, carefree people to the point of fault, and he disliked their very presence, to say nothing of interacting with them. Aeris gave his paw a calming squeeze, and smiled at the waiting Celebrant. "We're ready," she said.  
  
The priestess nodded, cleared her throat, and spoke in a clear voice that was both soothing to hear, and yet carried an undeniable sense of authority. "The Star Sybil teaches us that we begin our existence as points of light in the sky, and that through misfortune or calamity, we sometimes fall to the earth until such time as we may discover a way, through honor, piety, and goodwill, to once more ascend to the heavens and rejoin our brethren among the stars. Throughout our time on this material plane, it is the stars that guide our destiny, that smile down upon us in times of strength and happiness, and protect us in times of weakness and woe. There are unique instances in which two companion stars, forever partners in the sky, sometimes fall to the earth together, and must find their way back to each other despite the added burden of mortal flesh and blood."  
  
The Celebrant smiled. "Two such wayward stars have at last completed their long journey, and come before us this night so that their bond of friendship and love may be renewed with the Star Sybil's blessing. With the completion of the sacred rites that we intone this evening, your destinies shall be once more intertwined as they rightfully belong, your return to your home in the heavens shall be guaranteed, and your love shall burn as brightly and eternally as the stars themselves. Such is the wish of the Star Sybil, and of all just, good, and noble creatures in Vana'diel." She beckoned to Leo with a paw. "Leo Orlando Leonardo. Please, step forward."  
  
As Leo strode toward the podium-like pillar of stone behind which the Celebrant stood, he looked at the assembled bystanders out of the corner of one eye. They had begun to talk amongst themselves, and he could overhear their rambling voices.  
  
Bluto, the great Galka, was respectfully silent; NekoNeko69 was unfortunately more vocal. She had pulled a small handkerchief from a satchel upon her waist and now anxiously wrung it with both her paws, sobbing loudly and openly. "OMG it's so beautiful! ;.;" she cried.  
  
ANGELSEPHIROTH spoke in a raspy whisper that Leo had difficulty making out. "Aeris... thats a familiar name... I killed an Aeris once..." he murmured. The Hume appeared to be living in his own world; he hadn't even  _looked_  at Aeris, but kept staring intently at his own hands, as if they were liable to suddenly crawl away from his body if he took his eyes off them.  
  
The Tarutaru, however, was another matter entirely; he blatantly ogled Aeris, tongue hanging from between his lips, hopping up and down upon his midget feet. "wow that aries iz so hot," he said, his voice more akin to a shout than any kind of whisper. He went so far as to wave to her, shouting at her from where he stood--less than ten feet away--screaming out, "HEY ARIES U R HOT MY NAME IS JOHN WOULD U LIEK 2 B MY G/F". Galadriel reacted violently behind him, frowning and harshly swatting the back of his head with an open palm; the strike was enough to send his small body staggering forward a few steps, and to which he replied "ow i am srry my queen".  
  
Aeris had merely scowled at the rude little runt, but she thought for certain that Leo would scream; his back was to her, but she could see both his paws clench into trembling fists. Amazingly, he made it to the altar without losing his composure, and stood before the Celebrant. Strangely enough,  _she_  didn't appear disturbed by the heckling in the least, but Aeris supposed she was used to witnessing such displays.  
  
The priestess held out a scarlet cushion upon which rested two silver rings. "Sir Leo. Take the ring on the right." He did so, examining the band of metal; it shone brightly against the dark material of the glove he wore. The Celebrant gestured to Aeris with her free hand, and said, "Aeris Bradford Cole. Step forward."  
  
Aeris's own approach to the altar was mercifully quiet; she wasn't sure if the revelers had simply calmed down, or if she was making a subconscious effort to block out anything they might say. She stood at Leo's left, peering over his shoulder at the ring he held; it seemed to glow in the moonlight, much like her own gown. "Lady Aeris," the Celebrant said. "Take the ring on the left." The pink cat took the circle of silver in her paw, inspecting it in the same manner as Leo did his own; she could see her own name engraved on the inside in neat cursive script. "Please, face each other." Aeris turned to look upon Leo; his fangs peeked through his lips while he grinned, forcing her to lift her free paw to her mouth to quiet a giggle.  
  
The priestess set the cushion aside upon the Orastery roof and clasped her paws together in front of her, briefly bowing her head. She smiled at Leo and Aeris, motioning to the rings they held. "I understand that the two of you have personal vows you wish to make to each other. Do so, and as each of you finishes, slip your ring onto your partner's hand. When you both wear your rings, I will complete the ritual." She nodded to Leo. "Sir Leo. You will go first."  
  
Leo knelt down upon the stone of the roof, clasping Aeris's hand within his own paws. She blushed in spite of herself; she had promised herself that she wouldn't be embarrassed throughout the proceedings, no matter what happened, but the way he smiled at her and rubbed his fingers into her palm made her heart beat more quickly than she would have liked. "Aeris," he whispered. "You and I have known each other since we were old enough to crawl. We've shared good times, like the day you were accepted into the university... and we've shared bad times, like when you had to turn to prostitution to pay off your student loans."  
  
NekoNeko69 said, "O.O". Aeris thought it was an appropriate response; the bustling conversation of the observers had suddenly stopped dead, and even the Sybil Celebrant's eyes had widened. The heat in her cheeks blazed hotter than before, and the wicked gleam of Leo's emerald eyes only made her feel warmer.  _Oh, God, I can't believe I'm doing this,_  she thought.  
  
Leo continued; he spoke in a deliberately loud, dramatic voice that would otherwise have been reserved for a stage performance. "When you needed the extra money to support your cocaine addiction, I was there. When you needed someone to drive you to that abortion clinic in Quebec, I was there. When you needed to hide that Mountie's body, I was there. I've  _always_  been there for you, Aeris... and I always  _will_  be." He slipped the ring he held onto her finger, and stood up; she could see him biting down hard upon his lower lip, trembling with restrained laughter.  
  
Aeris looked toward the assembled guests. Bluto had disappeared entirely, without a trace--perhaps he had found the proceedings too boring for his taste. ANGELSEPHIROTH was still muttering to himself; she could not see his face, for the length of his white hair obscured it from her view. "Aeris... that was our child, Aeris..." he whispered. "You killed her... just like I'll kill you..."  
  
Galadriel's mouth hung open in a perfect 'O', her own cheeks reddened. sk8rh0bbit, however, didn't seem fazed in the least. "OMFG, aries iz a slut," he said; he actually pointed to her, as if the statement itself had not been clear enough. That was enough to draw another punishment from the Elvaan, who gave him a swift kick in the rear, and sent him toppling over. "srry again my queen" he begged of her. NekoNeko69 simply stared in the direction of the altar, her eyes as wide and green as tennis balls.  
  
What struck Aeris the most, however, was the Celebrant; her expression was one of utter horror. She had actually stepped back from the altar, her mouth open as if to speak, although no words came out. Aeris felt a sharp pang of guilt, but it was too late to turn back now--Leo had made  _certain_  of that. She inhaled a deep breath and let it out in a sigh;  _What the hell, Leo, what the hell._  She knelt down before him in kind, grasped hold of his paws within her own, and spoke in the same loud, over-the-top voice.  
  
"Oh, my Leo! My dear, sweet Leo! When our parents were killed in that shootout with the police, I told you that I would always be your big sister, and that I would always take care of you. When you burned down our high school, I helped you frame the principal. When you were convicted of molesting that Boy Scout troop, I mailed you letters and sent you Vaseline in prison. And after you escaped, I helped you to fake your death so no one would come looking for you. I loved you then, Leo, I love you now, and I will love you  _forever_!" She eased her ring upon his finger, and stood before him, her eyes gleaming like those of a practiced trickster.  
  
NekoNeko69 had since averted her eyes; the catwoman was blushing profusely, yet said nothing. ANGELSEPHIROTH was still babbling to himself; he clutched at his pale mane with both his gloved hands, whispering feverishly. "I didn't know you had a brother, Aeris... we will welcome him into our family of darkness and pain..."  
  
Galadriel had grabbed sk8rh0bbit by the hand, attempting to lead him away from the scene, but the Tarutaru stubbornly dug his heels into the ground, continuing to point toward Leo and Aeris. "wtf, thats fucken sick, their bro and sis, lol" he opined.  
  
The Celebrant looked as if she had regained her voice, and was about to speak, but Leo did not grant her the opportunity; he seized upon Aeris, clutching her body within his dark arms, urging the fabric of her dress tightly against his jumpsuit. "No more talk! Our love cannot wait for trivial ritual!  _Kiss me,_  my sister, kiss me  _now!_ "  
  
And kiss him she did; she threw her arms around his neck, sealing her furred lips against his own, squeezing her sapphire eyes shut. The union was long, and deep, allowing her to savor his taste, rasping the roughness of her tongue upon his own, a deep purr rumbling from within her chest to join with his. She heard the rustle of fabric when Leo reached into the pouch at his waist, and she knew what was coming; her claws dug tightly into his shoulderblades as he threw the smoke bomb to the ground, sending ash-hued fumes billowing in every direction.  
  
When the gray haze cleared, both Leo and Aeris were gone.  
  
Their guests were understandably devastated; NekoNeko69 hid her face within her paws in a vain attempt to hide her blush. ANGELSEPHIROTH appeared every bit as lost as before, rambling in a trembling murmur. "No... wait, Aeris... please, come back... I need your White Materia... come back to me, my Aeris..."  
  
sk8rh0bbit seemed both sickened and delighted; he made gagging gestures with his hands, even as he hopped up and down. "rofl, d00d, thats nasty" he said. "im gonna instant mesage my h0bbit h0s and tell them about this, waht do u think my queen." It wasn't until then that he realized Galadriel had vanished; she had grown weary of attempting to discipline him, and simply left. "o no, wait for me, dont leave me heere my queen" he cried, and promptly ran down the stairs along the side of the Orastery.  
  
Perhaps it was strange that out of all who remained, the Celebrant was the calmest. She had moved to the roof railing, leaning upon it for support, lifting her gaze first to the glimmering stars, and then to the shadowed waters below. Her brows were furrowed in contemplation, both her eyes closed.  
  
And then she smiled. She laughed, gently shaking her head from side to side, unable to hold back the grin that pulled at the edges of her muzzle.  
  
They had arranged it all beforehand, that much was clear. But not everything had been false; she had seen the crimson flush of the bride's cheeks, seen the gleam in the groom's eyes, and the warmth of the smile upon his lips. Those things were genuine. From beneath the jest and mischief and play, true tenderness had emerged.  
  
The priestess chuckled. "Ahh, young love," she sighed. She tilted her head upward, basking her face in the glow of the moonlight, and settled her gaze upon two stars--one green, one blue--that snuggled close together amid the darkness of the night sky.  
  
***  
  
Aeris could barely restrain her giggling. She had clapped both her hands over her mouth in an attempt to silence it, but she had been only partially successful; soft, muffled peeps of delight managed to creep past her gloves, betraying her joy to the dark.  
  
Leo, however, enjoyed no such restraint; the tomcat laughed himself breathless, doubled over at the waist, clutching his sides while crystal tears coursed down both his cheeks. He gasped for breath, only to laugh himself right out of it again, loud and long and without hesitation. For a moment, Aeris feared they would surely be discovered by any listening passers-by, but when the cloud from Leo's smoke bomb had dissipated, they had both reappeared in the secluded warehouse district on the far side of Port Windurst, a lengthy walk from the Orastery.  
  
The sight of Leo's unbridled amusement left her no recourse but to loose her own; she sank to her knees, giggling helplessly. She lifted a paw to wipe the welling tears from her eyes, and sank back into a recline upon the bare ground, pressing her gloves into the dirt below. "Oh... oh, Leo..." she gasped, straining to try and keep a straight face, "You... you know that we're probably going to Hell, right?"  
  
Leo unceremoniously sprawled at her side; he simply lay upon his side on the soil, unconcerned with whether or not his jumpsuit suffered ill for it. "Yeah..." he admitted, a broad smirk upon his lips. "... but it was worth it, wasn't it?"  
  
She grinned wickedly, nodding her head. "Absolutely." She tilted her head back and sighed with amused pleasure, the strands of her hair rustling against the fabric of her wedding dress. "Mmm, you were right," she purred. "It felt good to mess with all those wankers." She shivered. "Were you  _listening_  to that 'Sephiroth' moron?  _Jesus Christ_ , those kids need to get a fucking life."  
  
Leo snorted. "That guy was nothing. Did you see that little midget? I thought I was going to have a coronary." He lay back upon the ground, cupping his paws together behind his head. "I swear to you, Aeris, once we leave this game, the collective IQ of everyone on the server will drop by a hundred points." He turned his head to look upon her, arching an eyebrow. "You  _do_  still want to leave, right?"  
  
Aeris laughed. "Are you kidding? After a month of sitting around doing nothing and having to deal with those idiots on a daily basis, I can't  _wait_  to get away. 30-day trial period, my ass." She smirked. "Even if I wanted to stay, the Sybil Celebrant is probably reporting us to the administrators right now. If going out of our way to fuck up a wedding doesn't get us banned from the server, then nothing will." Her eyes fell upon Leo, and a soft purr drifted from her lips; she crawled to the spot where he lay, gently draping her arms across his chest, and nuzzled at his cheek. "Besides," she murmured, "I have better things to do with my time than sit on my tail and level up."  
  
"Mmm, you and me both." He kissed her once more, pressing his lips to hers softly and quickly, once, twice--teasing a third, before nibbling upon her lower lip. She giggled again and tucked her head beneath his chin, purring audibly.  
  
The glimmer of the ring upon her hand caught Aeris's eye. She slipped it from her finger and peered at the interior; the ring with her own name inside had been given to Leo, while this ring was engraved with his own. The job had been professionally done, the letters flowing smoothly into each other. Her face tinted a faint scarlet hue, and she rose into a kneel at his side, smiling down upon him. "Leo?"  
  
"Mmm?"  
  
"Do you think... well... do you think we might ever get married... for real?"  
  
He grinned. "Mmm, mayyybe." He lifted a paw to settle it upon her cheek, stroking his thumb over the lengths of her whiskers. "But let's not rush things, Aeris... we have plenty of time to think about that. Let's take things one step at a time, okay?"  
  
She purred richly, canting her face into the touch of his furred palm. "Okay." She bent down, leaning over his body, and touched the tip of her nose against his own. "You  _are_  coming over tonight, aren't you?"  
  
"Of course." He stretched where he lay, curling his fingers into his paws and opening his mouth wide in a fanged yawn, squeezing his eyes shut. A soft purr undercarried his words as he spoke. "I'm a little hungry, so I'm going to make a quick sandwich before I leave." He shifted his position, rising into a kneel, and clasped his hands together in a sign of prayer. "I'll go ahead and log out. I'll meet you outside in about ten minutes, okay?"  
  
Aeris nodded. "Okay." She mimicked his posture, assuming the same stance--it took thirty seconds in this position before the game would log out your character. She noticed that Leo was smirking at her; not just smiling, as he did so often, but looking rather sly, as if she had missed a joke or something. "What's so funny?"  
  
"Mmm, nothing," he purred. "I just have a little surprise for you. A wedding gift, you might say."  
  
She blinked. "Really? What is it?"  
  
"Now, now... if I told you, then it would wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?"  
  
"Aww," she whined, "but now you have me all curious."  
  
Leo winked at her. "Careful, kitten. You know what they say about curiousity and cats."  
  
"Hmph. Promise to tell me when you come over?"  
  
"Mmmhmm. Promise." He smiled. "Hey."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
He leaned forward where he knelt, gingerly pressing his lips to her mouth. She purred into the contact, her ears splaying back against her hair. He drew back with another wink, and a whisper. "See you soon." And then he disappeared, his entire body vanishing in a flash of white light.  
  
**Leo has logged off.**


	4. World 1-2, Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DISCLAIMER: VG Cats is the property of Scott "El Diablo" Ramsoomair, whose characters are used here without permission, for entertainment purposes only. This story was not written for profit, and it was not written to libel Scott Ramsoomair.
> 
> Visit Scott, Leo, and Aeris at http://www.vgcats.com
> 
> This story is intended for mature audiences.

Aeris sighed. She never wanted to play  _Final Fantasy XI_  again.  
  
It was Leo who had persuaded her to start playing, and she had to admit that at first, it was actually fun. However, the novelty of the game had quickly worn off once she realized that all you ever did was try to level up. If you wanted a particular weapon or piece of armor, you had to level up to equip it; if you wanted to accept a given quest, you had to reach a minimum level before it became available; in short, if you wanted to go anywhere or do anything, you had to level up first. And when you were finished, you got to level up some more; in the event that your character was killed, you could actually level  _down_ , and have to make up all your lost ground. After a month, she had grown quite weary of it.  
  
The leveling itself had not infuriated her so much as the restrictions the game placed upon the process. As your level rose, enemy monsters gave you less and less experience; eventually, you reached a point where the only creatures that would give you experience at all were too tough for you to kill, meaning you had to form a party with other players and adventure together in order to progress through the game. Playing solo was simply not an option; you either had to join a party, or stop playing.  
  
Aeris had chosen the latter. She  _hated_  playing with other people; she had discovered that in general, online gamers--with the possible exception of Leo--were blithering idiots, a crowd comprised of 12-year-olds who couldn't string together a coherent English sentence, to say nothing of treating others in the roleplaying environment with any sense of etiquette or respect. The crowd that had gathered at her wedding had merely proven the point. To simply trade items or information with them one was thing, but to be  _forced_  by the game to team up with them simply for the sake of being able to continue playing was something she found unacceptable.  
  
But none of that mattered anymore. The wedding was complete, and the satisfaction of having thrown it in the faces of the moronic children playing on the server made her smile. That, too, had been Leo's idea; he had begun playing the game a month before she did, and like her, had become burned out by the constant, pointless leveling. When she expressed her desire to stop playing for good, Leo decided to quit right along with her, and proposed that they "go out with a bang". Considering how much gaming the two of them did, she thought the idea of an online marriage to be an appropriate occasion for their send-off.  
  
Aeris watched her computer shut itself off; she would uninstall the game later, when she had the free time. For the moment, she had more pressing matters to attend to. A glance out the window of her dorm told her it was growing late; the sky had grown scarlet with the coming of evening, and soon it would be dark. It was late in September now, and the sun typically went down around six or seven o'clock. Aeris stretched where she sat in her chair, and eased her feet into her loose-fitting sneakers. She grinned to herself while she slid on her thin jacket, feeling pleasantly giddy with the anticipation--it was Friday, and she was looking forward to spending the weekend with Leo again.  
  
 _Leo._  She almost felt ashamed of her eagerness; Leo had been a constant fixture in her life, and she saw him almost every day, but not until recently did she actually  _miss_  him when he wasn't around. It had been a long time since she felt excited about being able to see a guy. Several weeks had passed since that hot August night they had spent together in his room, and since then, they had often repeated their pleasurable union with each other, whenever they could make the time to do so. It was difficult to meet during the week, since they were both bogged down with homework, but the university's visitation rules allowed them to stay in each other's dorms over the course of the weekend; they could spend Friday evening, all of Saturday, and most of Sunday together. Over two full days to make mischief and share their pleasure.  
  
Aeris's cheeks flushed with warmth as she made her way down the stairwell to the lobby of the residence hall. When she and Leo first began to see each other, she had been deathly afraid that he would spread word of their companionship all over campus, and that soon, everyone in Toronto would know that she was the one leaving claw-marks on his back. It wasn't that being with Leo embarrassed her--she felt lucky to have him, in fact--but for the moment, she felt as if she had him all to herself, as if the secret of their pleasure was like a hidden treasure that belonged to the two of them alone. It was a feeling she relished, and she did not intend to spoil it by revealing their affair to others. It was the reason why she hadn't told any of her own friends about him.  
  
Amazingly, she didn't hear a single rumor; none of her friends thought she and Leo were remotely interested in each other, let alone sleeping together. Leo hadn't said a word to anyone, keeping his mouth quite shut.  
  
Aeris had begun to think better of him after that. He was a more decent cat than she sometimes gave him credit for being.  
  
The air outside the Tower was colder than she thought it would be. But then, she probably should have expected that--the Canadian climate was notoriously cool, and heading into October, it would rapidly grow more and more frigid. She could see the pale wisp of her own breath before her every time she exhaled; she tucked her hands into the pockets of her jacket and leaned back against the wall of the Tower to await Leo's arrival.  
  
The North and South Towers of the university were not far apart. It took all of three minutes--two, if you were in a hurry--to leave the South lobby and walk down the long, slanted incline of the sidewalk that led to the base of the North building in the rolling valley where it rested. The structures themselves weren't tall, as buildings went, for they were hardly skyscrapers; each Tower was ten stories high, and only seven of those were above-ground. Despite that, when you stood in front of either of them and looked straight up, they appeared to loom over you, as if they were liable to suddenly tilt and crush you at any moment. The squatter, square-shaped academic buildings where classes met were located beyond the South Tower on the campus proper, far removed from the residence halls themselves.  
  
Aeris deeply inhaled, allowing the crisp autumn air to fill her lungs. She thought the University of Toronto looked beautiful in the fall. The leaves of the trees on campus had begun to tint themselves various shades of red, yellow, and orange--all save the pine trees, of course, which stubbornly remained green. The sky was clear, and hints of blue still remained among the hues and orange and red created by the dying sun. It was breathtaking scenery, one she made a note to recreate later with her pens and inks, when she had a moment of leisure.  
  
Leo soon emerged from within the South Tower, taking slow strides in the direction of the North. His silhouette was easy to make out; the dull gray of his fur stood out against the lively, surrounding colors of the rainbow-hued trees. He was dressed in clothing that was typical for him: blue jacket, blue shirt, blue jeans, blue bell around his neck. Only his shoes broke the azure theme, for they were red with white stripes; Aeris had never told him so, but she had always guessed that be bought them because they looked like something Sonic the Hedgehog might wear. She knew Leo's favorite color was blue, but that had done little to stop her from blushing darkly on one intimate night last week, when he had whispered to her about how much he  _loved_  pink.  
  
It wasn't as if she could claim her own fashion sense to be superior; she was quite fond of purple, and it showed upon her figure. Her shirt, her shoes, her hair band--all a dark violet. Even her blue jeans could more rightly be called purple, for they were unusually dark, at least when compared to the denim that Leo wore. The only reason her jacket was pink was because she thought it was a good match for her own fur. But while the colors of her own clothing were rich and vibrant, Leo's clothes always looked pale, and faded, as if he'd owned them for years. He had once confessed to her that he wasn't quite sure how the residence hall laundromats worked; she believed that the wrong water setting or a cheap brand of detergent had gradually bled the hues out of everything he wore.  
  
Aeris waved a paw to Leo as he approached. His face brightened, the points of his ears perking atop his head, and his steps grew quick, the soles of his shoes making an audible tapping sound upon the sloping pavement while he ran. He rapidly covered the distance between the two Towers, and when he stopped before her, he was out of breath... but he smiled with each soft gasp of the chill air, the length of his tail lashing about behind him.  
  
Silence hung in the air between them; his emerald eyes looked into hers, and the sapphires of her own looked right back. There was no sound, except for the faint, whistling breeze that ran through the trees, and made their multicolored branches clatter together. Their visible puffs of breath mingled together in the cold before being whisked away upon the gentle wind. The faint gust disturbed the strands of Leo's hair; whereas Aeris's fur was uniformly smooth, his own coat always seemed to stick up or look frazzled in some spots, no matter how much he attempted to pat it down.  
  
She was the first who ventured speak. "Hey there, tiger," she whispered.  
  
"Hey there, kitten," he murmured in reply.  
  
Both were still... and then both stepped forward, and came together. Aeris buried her face in the crook of his shoulder, purring into his smoky pelt, draping her arms around his neck. Leo responded in kind, slipping his paws into the folds of her jacket to hug her about the waist, whiskers quivering upon his face while he nuzzled her cheek. His head came to rest upon her shoulder, muzzle losing itself in the pink sea of her long hair, a blissful sigh escaping him. "God, I missed you."  
  
She purred into one of his triangle-ears, lifting the fingers of one hand to comb them through the strands of his own ashen mane, chuckling under her breath. "It's nice of you to say, Leo," she said, "but it's only been two days."  
  
"Mmm... but that's two days too long," he growled. And then he kissed her.  
  
Aeris felt her cheeks fill with heat without her permission, allowing her eyes to slip shut. Leo kissed her good, and rather hard, going so far as to press her body back against the unyielding stone of the wall behind her. And yet, she did not object; her free hand grasped and tugged at the fur upon the back of his neck, reveling in the silken warmth of his coat. Mmm, Leo wasn't usually so affectionate with her in public... so much for keeping things a secret.  
  
One of her eyes cracked open to catch the looks and stares of students who passed in front of the Tower. It made her smirk into the kiss; she knew how people's eyes wandered, knew how any couple together, be it in a mere hug or a sensual embrace like the one she now shared, instantly became a spectacle. Her own eyes had lingered upon young lovers in front of the dorms more than once, but she had to admit that she'd never actually envisioned  _herself_  in such a situation.  
  
And Leo wasn't done with her yet. After forever, his lips finally drew away from her own, only to press against her chin, drifting down to nip and nibble at her throat. Aeris tilted her head back with a sigh, her hands falling upon his shoulders in a mild attempt to push him away. "Mmnh... Leo... don't... frisky kitty..." she purred. To share a kiss with him was one thing, but she didn't want him undressing her right there in the cold, and in front of anyone who might happen to be passing by; when his paws slipped from her waist to tightly grasp at the seat of her jeans, she gave a sharp gasp, afraid he might actually  _do_  it. "Leo... oh, Leo, quit it..." she whispered. She had to force herself to push his head away, to deny herself the rasp of his tongue across her furred flesh, and the ginger suckling of his teeth and lips. "Oh... oh, Leo, please... Leo, for God's sake,  _stop!_ "  
  
With that urgent hiss of breath, he at last obeyed her; he drew back only slightly, enough to look upon her with those dark green eyes, a concerned expression creasing his muzzle. "What'd I do?"  
  
"Nothing, just...  _Jesus_ , Leo," she panted. Her pelt looked more red than pink, cheeks filled with the heat of blood that she wished would busy itself elsewhere. "What were you gonna do, screw me right into the building?"  
  
Leo looked rather sheepish; he lowered his eyes to the pavement, despite the faint smile upon his lips, and spoke in a soft tone. "Sorry," he said. "I just... I really missed you, Aeris."  
  
"No kidding." She ran the rear of her palm across her lips, wiping away the light moisture left in the wake of the kiss. Grinning wickedly, she leaned in close against him, splaying her fingers upon his chest, and touched the very tip of her nose against his own. "What would you say to going someplace a little more private," she murmured, "so we can get... reacquainted?"  
  
"Mmm. Sounds like a plan," he purred, hugging his paws around her hips, "but wouldn't you like to see your surprise first?"  
  
Aeris looked at him, uncomprehending, before her eyes brightened. She had forgotten all about the gift he had promised her. "You mean you have it with you? Right now?"  
  
"Mmmhmm."  
  
"Oooh, lemme see, lemme see!" she purred, fairly bouncing upon her heels like a little kitten. Aeris prided herself on being mature, but she seldom received presents, except on her birthday, and Christmas--and even then, she'd usually get a crappy gift like a sweater with jingle bells embroidered on it that was far too large for her to wear anyway, or something equally useless. Presents from Leo held more promise.  
  
Her eager expression made Leo chuckle. He reached into one pocket of his jacket, fingers making the flimy material quietly rustle. He produced a small, square, velvet-lined box, one that was compact enough to fit within the palm of his outstretched hand. "Take it," he said.  
  
Aeris's breath caught in her throat. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of the tiny box, heart suddenly thumping very hard and quickly within her chest. She reached for the little container, hesitantly, fingers trembling, and then drew her paw back entirely. She lifted her eyes to Leo's, ears folded back against her hair, her voice little more than a soft mew. "L-Leo," she stammered. "When I asked you... about g-getting m-married... I... I didn't m-mean..."  
  
Leo gave her a puzzled look, his brow furrowed. Then he smiled, and slowly shook his head. "Relax, kitten," he said. "I told you we'd take it one step at a time... and besides..." His voice grew softer, his face slightly crestfallen. "... I don't think I could afford a halfway decent ring for you, anyway." He took her hand within his own, gently closing her fingers around the box. "Go on... open it."  
  
Her paw continued to tremble, even as she held the box within her palm. She gave Leo a look of uncertainty, and slowly cracked the lid of the box open; its contents immediately brought a smile to her face. "Oh, Leo..." she whispered.  
  
 _Pac-Cat._  A small black circle with a triangle-shaped indentation of a "mouth" in the right side, its round "body" topped by two triangular ears, while a short, ropey tail sprouted from the left side. He was a national gaming icon, and had been ever since his arcade game broke Atari's earning records back in the 80s. He also happened to be Aeris's favorite video game hero; she knew some people who would grow nostalgic for  _Donkey Kong_ , or  _Space Invaders_ , but she had some very fond memories of being hunched over the  _Pac-Cat_  machine at the local Pizza Hut, screaming bloody murder at it.  
  
It was a necklace. At least, it looked like one; she carefully plucked the obsidian icon from within the box, holding it within the palm of her hand. It was a little larger than a quarter in size, and slightly thicker, but it felt surprisingly heavy for its size--it was definitely metal, and not the plastic its glossy sheen made it appear to be. Yes, certainly a necklace. A long metal chain was linked to a small hole in one of Pac-Cat's ears, just as black as the medallion itself.  
  
"Leo... it's so cute," Aeris purred. She turned the little trinket over and over in her hand, testing its weight, and rubbing her thumb across its smooth surface; the velvet box was snapped shut, and placed within the pocket of her own jacket. She practically beamed at him. "Where did you get it?"  
  
Leo seemed pleased. "Online, from Atari's store. I thought you might like it."  
  
"I  _love_  it. Can I wear it now?"  
  
He nodded, and took the accessory within his own paws. The sheer length of the chain allowed him to drape it over her head without pulling it apart. She closed her eyes and purred while it brushed across her hair and the tip of her nose, the pendant coming to a rest upon her chest with a soft metallic sound. "Mmm... it didn't cost you much, did it?"  
  
Leo simply grinned at her. "I don't know if I'd call it 'cheap', but it was worth it, if it could buy a smile from you."  
  
Aeris felt herself grow warm again. She leaned in close to him, rubbing the top of her head just beneath his chin, and growled in a dark tone. "You, Leo Leonardo, are a silver-tongued devil." She reached up and grasped hold of the collar of his jacket, tugging him in the direction of the front door of the Tower. "Come on, tiger... let's get in out of this cold and see if we can get warmed up."  
  
"Oooh, warm me up, baby," he purred. He followed her coaxing, and had pressed one paw against the door to the lobby, when he happened to turn his head for a last look at the outside. When he saw it, his eyes grew large, and his furred lips parted. "Oh, wow..."  
  
"What?" She had already taken a step into the building, and turned her eyes to follow Leo's gaze. Like his own, they widened. "Wow..." she softly repeated.  
  
The evening sky looked as if it was on fire. The last slivers of blue had yielded entirely to the rays of the setting sun, casting a scarlet glow in every direction. The lack of clouds allowed for a clear view of the rich shades of red. The sun itself had turned a dark crimson, and could be looked upon without danger as it sank beneath the horizon.  
  
"It's beautiful," Aeris whispered. She took a few steps back into the open; the ebbing sunlight served to accent her features, turning her customary pink a lush red that Leo thought fitting of her. His eyes wandered from the sun to rest upon her, a gentle purr rumbling from within him.  
  
"Yeah... beautiful," he echoed.  
  
If she blushed then, Leo could not discern, for her complexion could not tint any redder than it was at that moment. But she purred when her arms wrapped around him, and the sound only grew louder when he reciprocated the touch, pressing a hand against her back. He lifted a paw to brush a few errant strands of her hair out of her glimmering eyes, his own half-lidded while he looked upon her. "Aeris?" he murmured.  
  
"Yes, Leo?"  
  
"If I'm dreaming... please... don't wake me up."  
  
"Okay."  
  
And then he kissed her.  
  
***  
  
Leo had never actually believed that anyone could leave a string of discarded clothing leading to their bed. He had seen the image used in movies before, and on cable a few times, but he'd always thought it was just a cheesy joke. Surely no two people could work themselves into such a state of arousal that they tore their clothes off in mid-sprint while trying to get to the bedroom, leaving behind shirts and socks and underwear like a perverse trail of bread crumbs.  
  
And yet, that was exactly what had happened.  
  
He had taken all of three steps into Aeris's room before she shut the door behind him, locked it, grasped him by the shoulders, and pushed his body back against the solid wood. She kissed him hungrily, locking her muzzle against his own, running the fingers of both hands through his hair, urging her own body snugly against his. He had actually been surprised at how forward, how forceful she was, but then, she  _was_  in heat; she had stopped taking her anti-estrus medication weeks ago, simply because she no longer needed it when he was present to satisfy her. Birth control pills were adequate to prevent an undesired litter of kittens.  
  
Of course, it wasn't as if he could claim to have governed his lusts any better. They had taken the elevator up to her room; even though Aeris lived on the fourth floor, just one flight of stairs up from the lobby on the third (ground) floor, both of them were too lazy to actually make the ascent. But while they were in the elevator, he hadn't been able to keep his hands off her, kissing and pawing at her, making her squirm and mew against the back wall of the lift where he held her. They were still groping and fondling one another when the elevator doors opened, and Aeris had been forced to physically shove him out before they closed again.  
  
After they had reached Aeris's room--and once she allowed him to breathe again--they had shed their jackets where they stood, and a new article of clothing fell to the floor with every few steps toward her bed: his shirt, her jeans, his boxers, her bra... everything. All in rapid succession, simply tossed aside like so much trash. They had pulled each other's clothes off until there was nothing left to remove.  
  
And so Leo found himself sitting upon her mattress, stark naked, kneading his claws into her bedsheets. She knelt down before him, gazing up into his eyes, running her paws over the musculature of his chest and arms. "Mmm... what a strong kitty you are..." she purred. She raked her talons down his front, fingers dancing across his belly to splay out upon his thighs. "How do you stay in such good shape, hmm?"  
  
Leo let out a rumbling chuckle. "I get a lot of exercise." He reached forth with a paw, stroking his fingers over the tips of her ears, and sinking them into the strands of her hair. "Entertaining my pretty kitten burns a lot of calories, y'know."  
  
"Does it?" A devilish smile came to her lips. Her paws coaxed his legs apart, palms rubbing against his inner thighs, the tips of her fingers delicately trailing across the white-furred sheath concealed within. "Then let's see if we can't help you to slim down a little more..." She could see the muscles of his thighs tighten at her touch, hear the subdued growl of approval. The sight and the sound brought an amused expression to her face; Leo was delightfully easy to please. She'd learned in their brief time together that with a few touches in the right places, she could reduce him to mewing like a kitten, or spur him to growl like a lion. Her touch upon his soft-furred ballsack was cautious, but skilled; she gingerly rolled and squeezed the twin orbs within her fingers, feeling them grow warm within her grasp.  
  
Leo's head tilted far back, a whisper of a sigh drifting from his lips. Aeris saw his fingers cinch more tightly upon her sheets, saw the length of his tail twitching back and forth, making a quiet rustle as it brushed against the soft fabric. Most diverting, however, was the sight of his member itself as it creeped forth from its hiding place within his sheath. Leo's shaft was pink, a source of private enjoyment for her--his flesh blended in quite well with her own fur as her paws stroked and rubbed at his budding length, coaxing more and more of it to emerge from hiding. Leo himself responded well to the intimate touch; his hips arched from their place upon her mattress, just a little, urging his sensitive skin into the contact of her furred fingers.  
  
She ran her palm over the barbs that lined his maleness with a certain fascination. The tiny spines were numerous, and present on every side, but they were harmless to her wandering hands, and had actually felt quite pleasant when placed inside her. They was a part of male anatomy that she did not fully comprehend, for she did not understand their purpose; she was reasonably sure that the pleasure they granted to a female must simply be incidental, in the evolutionary scheme of things.  
  
She was struck by a sudden thought.  _Hmm. I haven't done **that**  to him, not yet. I wonder how he'd react?_ She glanced at his face; his gaze was still turned toward the ceiling.  
  
She smirked, and ran her tongue over her lips.  _Hell, why not?_  
  
Leo permitted himself an audible purr. He couldn't deny that Aeris's touches felt good upon his bared flesh, but it was a fact that he tried to conceal from her. He was accustomed to their long rivalry, to the one-upsmanship, to always trying to get an advantage over her, while she did the same to him. Now that she  _had_  such an advantage, able to tease and train his body into responding to her, making the fur along his thighs rise beneath her fingers, and his shaft slip from within his sheath, he was reluctant to allow her the victory... even if he really did enjoy it.  
  
However, the sharp gasp that rushed from his lungs when she took him into her mouth would surely have erased any doubts she may have had about the effectiveness of her attentions.  
  
Aeris rasped her tongue upon Leo's most sensitive portions, swirling it 'round and 'round his girth, lapping at the underside, and suckling the head between her lips. The spines which had so intrigued her before continued to delight her now; she enjoyed the feeling of their texture beneath her rough feline tongue. She swabbed it across his length, able to trace every vein, every peculiarity of its surface. She found the taste of his naked skin to be surprisingly agreeable, and purred softly while she fed upon his flesh, bobbing her head up and down between his thighs in slow, leisurely motions.  
  
Leo hissed out his pleasure through clenched teeth. The paw he had settled in her hair slowly closed into a fist, urging her upon her meal, even as he tried to rein in his own desires. He had forced his eyes partially open for the sake of looking down upon her while she licked and suckled upon him, but he could not see her face; her long hair obscured much of her head as it rose and fell within his lap, totally concealing her visage from him.  
  
She lifted her gaze to his, snugly sealing her lips around his warm thickness. She could see him biting down hard upon his lower lip in an attempt to hush the pleased sounds that threatened to escape him. Her eyes narrowed in predatory fashion, and one of her paws--until now, pressed against his thigh to ensure his legs remained parted--sank low to renew its claim upon his sack, clutching at the swell of his balls within their protective sheath. That was enough to extract a guttural, rich groan from Leo, one that made her purr with satisfaction.  
  
"Mmm, God... oh God, Aeris... mmm..." His breathing had grown uneven, and shallow, each word a gasp for air. She could feel his claws combing through her hair, could hear the increasingly loud growl that coursed throughout his entire body. He had begun to grind his hips against her face, slowly at first, but with gradually more vigor as her attentions upon him continued. She was able to keep pace upon him without great difficulty, the bobbing of her head growing more rapid, the passage of his member between her lips made easy by the lubrication of her own tongue. "Aeris," he whispered, "Stop... mmm, please, stop..."  
  
It was not until Leo's fist granted her silken mane a light tug that she  _did_  stop, drawing away from his moistened member with a pout. "Why?" she mewed. "Don't you like it?" She didn't even give him time to answer before her head dipped low, rubbing her cheeks and forehead against the erect stiffness. Her tongue bathed the fur at the base of his sheath in long, slow licks, rewarding her with a second lustful groan from deep within him.  
  
"Yes...  _yes_ , damn it, you know I do," he growled, gently pulling upon the soft mass of pink once more, to coax her away from his middle. "So quit rubbing it in." His grip upon her hair eased, yielding to soft patting and scratching from his fingertips. He gazed down upon her with a hungry expression, running his own tongue over his lips. "I need you to stop... because I want to come inside you tonight..."  
  
Aeris loved the look of him. He had clearly enjoyed her efforts, whether he wanted to admit it or not; fur bristled upon his arms, chest, and legs, and his every breath was a trembling gasp that made his snow-white chest quickly rise and fall. She relished the measure of control she had over him, how easily she could manipulate his pleasures, and she couldn't resist flaunting her influence. "Mmm," she purred, "Mind your manners, Leo. If you want something from me... then you should say 'please'..."  
  
Leo's eyes narrowed. "Don't tease me, Aeris," he growled. "Not tonight... please..." He gave a start, and only growled more loudly when he realized she had gotten him to say it anyway. She made no attempt to hide her amusement, giggling openly, and rubbing both her paws into his slender stomach.  
  
"Good kitty," she purred. "You'll get what you want..." She rose to her feet, and carefully straddled herself across Leo's thighs. Her shapely figure molded well against his own body, the length of her tail brushing across his knees with every easy swish. She pressed her palms into his chest, admiring its firmness and warmth, leaning forward to nuzzle and kiss the underside of his chin.  
  
Leo nestled his face into her hair with a sigh. His paws roamed freely across her back, dancing up to her shoulders, only to drag his claws all the way down to the base of her tail. He was not modest with his touches, grasping and kneading the softness of her rear, scratching the furred flesh of her bottom with his unique brand. Aeris mewed and rumbled against him, draping her arms around his neck, enjoying the sensation of her exposed breasts against the fur upon his chest. One of his hands drifted to her tail itself, fondly stroking and petting its length, making her shiver in his embrace.  
  
When his paws gripped hold of her thighs and lifted her body against his own, she made no objection. The rumble of her purr was the only sound she made as he lowered her back down upon his waiting length, slipping the barbed, tongue-teased flesh into her body bit by bit. Her ears perked at the sound of the azure bell upon his collar, coaxed to life by a kiss from the Pac-Cat pendant that still hung around her own neck.  
  
Leo grit his teeth together, slowly impaling her pink body upon his spiny maleness, and sighed with relief when she sat at its base, unable to sink down any further. She reacted favorably to the carnal joining, curling her slender legs around his sides. Although his paws had returned to her rear, and served to aid in her motions atop him, Aeris needed little encouragement; she moved largely of her own volition, tightly gripping Leo's shoulders beneath her paws for the necessary leverage to move herself up and down upon his shaft. She could feel her tail lifting itself as his talons scored upon her backside.  
  
Yes, they were a good fit for each other. Leo purred at the warmth and moisture of her sex; her body was snug enough to provide him with delicious stimulation, and at the same time, was not so restrictively tight as to impede his thrusts against her. His hips arched off her mattress to sheathe his length within her over and over, the movements smooth and fluid.  
  
He kissed her, long and good this time, letting the contact linger, unlike the fierce, starving meeting of mouths they had shared before. His sandpapery tongue slipped past her soft lips, rubbing upon and meeting with her own, engaging its counterpart in a warm, intimate dance. He ran its rough texture over her fangs, and across her lips themselves, breaking the union only for the sake of looking upon her gasping, moaning face.  
  
Aeris drew her body close against his, returning her arms to their place about his neck, stifling an urgent moan by pressing her lips against his shoulder. His own mane wasn't long and flowing like hers--Leo kept it trimmed fairly short, really--but that did little to detract from her enjoyment of it. She pressed a hand against the back of his head to tilt his chin down, allowing her to nuzzle into his ashen hair, and whisper into one of his pointed ears. "Leo... mmnh, yes, Leo... s'good... don't stop, please don't stop..."  
  
He did not reply to her in words, but instead fixed his lips against the side of her neck, lapping and suckling at a tender spot beneath her jawline, causing her to tremble visibly in his arms. Aeris felt her skin growing flushed, and allowed a fresh moan to escape her unhindered, the tomcat's prize for being so attentive. She had noticed some time ago that Leo was usually quiet whenever they mated; he seldom cried out as she did, and almost never spoke to her, unless one counted his constant purring. In the beginning, she had been worried that perhaps this was because he didn't enjoy her, but she had since learned it was instead his proud reluctance to let her know just how much he  _had_  enjoyed her. It made those responses that she  _was_  able to draw out of his body, be it a wordless groan or a whisper of her name, that much more pleasurable for her. The very idea of getting a vocal rise out of him made the heat rise within her, and drove her to push herself down upon his lap with greater force, and frequency.  
  
Leo clutched her form against his chest, lifting his paws to press them flush against her back, and rested his head upon her shoulder, gazing at the surroundings of her room through half-lidded eyes. It felt strangely erotic to bed her here, as if it were some strange new land in a faraway place. Her room was not dissimilar from his own, the usual spot where they shared their pleasure, for it was furnished as all of the university dorms were: the same bland walls, the same old furniture, the same ugly carpet. But unlike his room, hers was quite clean, with not a discarded pizza box or soda can to be seen. The sheets upon which he now sat were not plain white, but a dark violet, like so many of her other possessions. Thick, featureless curtains covered her window, shielding the outside world from view, and concealed the glow of the fluorescent light overhead that allowed him to clearly make out every last inch of her lovely body. He was thankful that she lacked a roommate, one of the perks of her scholarship; it meant no interruptions, and no fear of discovery. And then there was the scent, the sweet smell that permeated the entire room, the same aroma that clung heavily to her fur and made his heart beat faster within his chest. He filled his lungs with it, and mated her more aggressively, raking his talons down her shoulderblades, tenderly scratching and clawing at her heated skin. The muscles of his hips grew taut while they bucked beneath her, withdrawing his member from her body and pumping it back in again, and again.  
  
"Oh, Leo, yes, yes! Please Leo, harder, harder!" Aeris's words were more whimpered than spoken, the poor cat's complexion quickly growing more scarlet than pink. Just as he had begun to roughly mate with her, so had she begun to ride him in earnest. She grasped pawfuls of his mane, and of the fur upon the back of his neck, the only real grip she had apart from his claw-scratched shoulders. Her own head was bowed, her lips parted to allow for her soft panting, dark blue eyes gazing upon her lover from behind a cage of errant strands of hair. "Touch me," she begged, whispering breathlessly. "I want... want to  _feel_  you..."  
  
As before, he obliged her. Scratching claws took their leave of her abused back, sliding around her body to find purchase upon the swell of her chest. She trembled hard at his touch, cooing while his fuzzy palms kneaded and massaged the sensitive flesh, and gasping sharply when his talons pinched and gently twisted the rosy nubs at the peak of each breast. She reclined far in his lap, and might have gone on to lie upon her back, were it not for the desperate grip of her own claws, clinging to his neck by a few slivers of fur. "Oh God, oh God!" she whined, her feminine body readily bouncing up and down upon his lap in time with his feral thrusts. No sooner did she lift herself off his barbed shaft than did his hips surge upward to fill her with it again, slapping the damp fur of his sheathed sack against the lips of her sex. "Leo, oh my God, Leo!" she cried, gasping hotly with every breath, squeezing her eyes tightly shut, thrashing her head back and forth. "Ah, ahh! Yes, yes, Leo,  _yes!_  It feels... sooo  _gooood_... I... I..."  
  
Her own scream would have been enough. She unleashed it without hesitation, without regret, baring her fangs to the surrounding light, shrieking and mrowling in true feline fashion. Her paws wrenched at Leo's fur, urging his body tight against her own, to somehow bring him closer, as if having him against her and around her and within her were not enough. Her legs squeezed around his thighs, pressing her heels into his lower back. He had pleased her--just as he always did--and she could have retired to sleep at that moment, fully satisfied with his performance.  
  
But she never expected the gray cat's come-cry to join her own. The sound was a bestial screech, loud and wild, one that tore from the very core of his being, and flowed easily into her ears. She reacted as though struck by lightning; her back arched toward him, pressing the softness of her breasts into his greedily gripping, clasping claws, her mouth hanging open in a silent pleasure scream, every muscle in her body spasming violently before going rigid, locking her body into place atop his own. She could feel the burst of heat within her, feel his pearl essence pouring into her center, her swollen netherlips nursing and clinging to his hardened length.  
  
Forget about  _sleeping_. Aeris could have died in Leo's arms, and happily marched straight through the gates of Hell. There was no greater pleasure this world could possibly offer her.  
  
They held each other for only a few moments, but every breath between them seemed to hang in the air forever. Aeris had gone limp within his arms, pressing her paws and cheek against his chest, gasping quickly and quietly, only for each new breath to leave her lips in a soft, shaky moan. Leo himself shared in her delicious exhaustion, in the warm, utter fatigue of afterglow, leaning in against her to counter the weight of her own body, and prevent himself from falling back against the sheets. There was no sound, save for their needy breathing... and for Aeris, with her ear against Leo's chest, the frantic racing of his young heart, so much like her own, scarce inches away.  
  
It was he who spoke first. "You know something?" he whispered.  
  
"Mmm?" she purred. "What?"  
  
He drew back and smiled at her, albeit weakly, stroking the claws of one hand through her hair. "You're actually beautiful when you're not pissed off at me."  
  
"Mmm." She smiled in return, pressing her own palm against his cheek, brushing her fingers across his thin whiskers. "And you're quite handsome..." She winked. "... when you're not pissing me off."   
  
He chuckled, and sighed into her mane once more, a soft purr thrumming within his chest, one that helped to soothe her own electrified nerves, and lure her strained muscles back into a state of calm. He was in the same condition; she could feel his physique beneath her wandering claws, tight and aching within his limbs, the tension gradually easing with each of his shuddering breaths.  
  
 _Knock-knock-knock._  "Aeris, are you okay?"  
  
Both cats' eyes shot open wide. Neither of them dared move, and they remained rigidly still, looking toward the door, until the knocking came a second time.  
  
"Aeris, are you all right? Answer me!" A female voice, and rather high-pitched, one Leo had never heard before.  
  
Aeris, however, appeared to be familiar with it.  _"Shit!"_  she hissed. "It's Rachel!"  
  
"Who?" Leo whispered.  
  
"One of my friends from down the hall. She must have heard us. Quick, you've gotta hide!"  
  
He gave a snort. "Hide  _where_ , under your bed? There's no place to go!"  
  
"All right, all right, just hold on!" she growled. She eased herself out of his lap--drawing a hiss from both of them, for they remained overly sensitive to touch--and pressed a paw against Leo's chest to push him upon his back. She grasped hold of her rumpled-up bedsheets and draped them across his body. The sheets were fairly thick, and bundled up on one another; with any luck, a visitor would think him to be just a wadded-up mass of fabric, or perhaps a concealed pillow.  
  
Leo could not see what next transpired; he heard the padding of Aeris's feet while she walked across the room, and the soft  _click_  of the light switch as she turned it off. Chances are that the lights out in the main hallway were already on--they almost always were, until very late at night--meaning that Rachel probably hadn't noticed through the crack at the bottom of the door that Aeris's light had been on as well.  
  
Leo heard the door slowly creak open.  
  
"Aeris, thank goodness! I thought you-- _oh!_ "  
  
"Mmm? What is it, Rachel?" Leo grinned where he lie hidden; Aeris was feigning sleepyness, speaking in a groggy tone of voice.  
  
"I, I'm sorry... were you asleep?"  
  
"Mmmhmm. Had a long day, wanted to turn in a little early tonight. S'allright. Is anything the matter?"  
  
"Well, I... I thought I heard...  _noises_  coming from your room."  
  
"Mmm? What kind of 'noises'?"  
  
"Well... screams, actually. I was worried you might be in trouble."  
  
A snort. "No screaming in here, though I've been told I snore. You might want to check the other floors."  
  
"All right. Are you...  _sure_  you're okay?"  
  
"Uh-huh. Just fine, Rachel. No problems."  
  
"Okay. Um... sorry to bother you. Good night."  
  
"S'okay. Good night."  
  
The door creaked shut. Leo reached up to pull the covers away from his face, peering into the darkness illuminated by his feline eyes. "All clear?" he whispered.  
  
Aeris smiled. "Yeah. False alarm. But I'll bet that Rachel never looks at me the same way again, not after seeing me open the door in the nude."  
  
Leo purred a deep chuckle. He shifted his position in the bed, propping himself up upon his elbows. "You  _could_  have just told her the truth, you know. People  _do_  date in college, it's a pretty frequent occurence."  
  
Aeris purred. She climbed upon the mattress and wriggled herself beneath the sheets to press her body against Leo's once more, straddling over his hips, pressing her knees into the bed along either side of him, and bracing her paws against his stomach. "Firstly, Leo, we don't 'date'. We see each other in class a couple of days a week, we sometimes study together, we play video games, and we have a lot of sex. We don't go out to dinner, we don't go to movies, we don't go to the park. I'm pretty sure that what we do doesn't qualify as 'dating'." She smirked. "In fact, most people would probably just call it 'fucking'."  
  
Leo grinned. "I see. And secondly?"  
  
"Secondly," she purred, rubbing her paws across his chest, "is that you are my little secret, Leo Leonardo. Other people we know may find out about us sooner or later... maybe students, maybe teachers, maybe even our parents. But until that happens, you belong entirely and solely to me... and I don't intend to give you up without a fight. Understand?"  
  
His paws rose to grasp hold of hers, lacing his fingers together with her own upon his chest. "Mmmhmm." His tone was one of teasing, a smile upon his muzzle. "Will my mistress allow me to go outdoors, or will I have to stay chained up to her bed all day?"  
  
Aeris laughed softly, a sound that rang with delight, and more than a hint of fatigue. "I haven't decided yet." She leaned down upon him, bearing the weight of her body down upon his own, slipping her arms about his neck once more. "If my tiger is a good kitty, and keeps me warm all night, then I might consider letting him out for a while tomorrow."  
  
Leo purred beneath her. "Mmm. And after tomorrow?"  
  
Aeris tilted her head and winked up at him, one azure eye closing in the dark. "Why, tomorrow, and every day after, is a new day, Leo. We can't make plans for them until we actually see what each day brings to us."  
  
Leo smiled at her. He kissed her again, softly, briefly, letting her sample the flavor of his lips before she tucked her head beneath his chin. He listened to the hum of her purr, for several minutes, until it drifted away into the peace of feline slumber. He yawned quietly, and allowed his emerald eyes to drift shut, so that he might join her.  
  
Leo Leonardo saw Aeris Cole in his thoughts. They waited together, hand-in-hand, biding their time until they would awaken, and dreaming sweet dreams of what the new day would bring.

**The End**


End file.
